While temperatures are soaring day by day, this year Mumbaikars will have to wait longer for monsoon. This year monsoon is likely to reach Mumbai a week to 10 days.
According to the Hindustan Times, private weather forecaster Skymet Weather predicted that southwest monsoon usually hits the city between June 8 and June 10, but this year could take place between June 15 and June 18, or even as late as June 20. Skymet has also predicted deficient rainfall in June and July across Maharashtra, many regions of which are facing the worst drought in years.
Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet told the Hindustan Times, “Our weather models show the strong weather systems that are expected to develop by the first week of June and pave the way for the monsoon, are absent. As a result, the rains could be delayed by at least a week.”
The delay in the onset could be attributed to a lingering El Niño, which is a climate phenomenon characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. So it means that heavy rain can be ruled out in Mumbai in the first half of the monsoon, Palawat told the leading daily. Palawat further added that, overall, Mumbai and Maharashtra will see deficient rain in June and July, but this is expected to improve to normal levels in August and September.
