Mumbai: The city and its suburbs were drenched late Sunday as the southwest monsoon made an early arrival, reportedly two days ahead of the usual onset date of June 11. According to a report in Times of India, IMD officials initially expected heavy rain activity from Sunday to Wednesday, but now anticipate a reduction in intensity starting Tuesday.
Parts of the city experienced heavy rainfall from Sunday evening until midnight, with some areas witnessing over 100mm of rain. Worli recorded 158mm, Dadar 142mm, Vikhroli 158mm, Powai 145mm, and Ghatkopar 114mm.
Additionally, the weather agency issued a yellow alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad for the week, indicating thunderstorms with lightning, heavy rainfall, gusty winds in isolated areas and moderate rain activity from Wednesday through the weekend.
According to the report, the IMD Colaba and Santacruz observatories recorded total rainfall of 65.4mm and 89mm, respectively, from June 1. Colaba recorded 9.8mm of rainfall, while Santacruz received 4.5mm between 8:30 am and 8:30 pm on Monday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reportedly issued a nowcast warning on Monday evening for rainfall in parts of Thane and Mumbai. Following this, areas such as Mahim, Shivaji Park in Dadar, Parel, Tilak Nagar and Bandra experienced moderate rain, thunder, lightning and gusty winds.
Other parts of the city saw notably higher rainfall between 7 pm and 9 pm. Sion recorded 35mm, Wadala 24mm, Reay Road 21mm and Worli 18mm. In the eastern suburbs, Chembur recorded 29mm, while the western suburbs, such as Bandra, saw 14mm of rainfall.
'No Intense Rain Activity Expected This Week': IMD Scientist
Speaking to Times of India, Sushma Nair, a scientist at IMD Mumbai, stated, “We do not expect any intense rain activity this week again and will be closely monitoring the situation.” Another Independent meteorologist Abhijit Modak, who runs the Konkan weather blog, told TOI that the heavy rain in a short period on Sunday was due to a well-embedded upper air cyclonic circulation within the east-west shear zone.
The city saw waterlogging in certain low-lying areas late Sunday, including the Andheri subway, which was shut to traffic. As the rain subsided by Sunday night, there was no inconvenience to motorists on Monday morning. The BMC informed that the entire BMC administration and machinery worked tirelessly to drain the rainwater in some low-lying areas. In recent years, the monsoon had arrived on June 9 in 2018 and 2021.
