Mumbai: Mumbai city witnessed severe cold day conditions along with haze, windy and cloudy sky conditions. The city was shrouded by a dust storm that hit parts of northwestern Maharashtra and Gujarat on Sunday.
Following the storm, cars in Mumbai were seen covered in dust after the city witnessed poor visibility, windy and cold conditions on Sunday. This is for the second consecutive day when strong dust-raising winds — originating in the Middle East — have reached India. On Saturday evening, visibility over Kutch, Saurashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan was severely affected, long the Arabian sea including Mumbai has led to sand particles entering and polluting the air.
A thick layer of haze settled over the city on Sunday, just a day after a western disturbance and cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan brought unseasonal rains to Mumbai, making it the city’s wettest January in at least a decade.
Winds from the northwest direction near the ground pushed the dust into Mumbai-MMR on January 23. Besides Mumbai-MMR, the dust has also spread across Nashik, Ahmadnagar, Pune, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Buldhana, Akola and Aurangabad districts of Maharashtra on the afternoon of 23 January, Deoras added.
Mumbai has seen multiple such dust events in the past, including a prominent one in March 2012. The source of dust is always the arid regions of the Middle East and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, The overall AQI for Mumbai deteriorated from 180 (moderate) on Sunday morning to 333 (very poor) by evening. The worst hit was Malad, which recorded an AQI of 436.
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