An orange alert has been issued for Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg today, the Regional Meteorological Centre said.
On Sunday, most parts of Mumbai saw moderate showers through the wee hours and into the late morning.
In the last 24 hours, South Mumbai received more rains as compared to the suburbs. The IMD's Colaba observatory recorded around 67 mm rainfall while the Santacruz observatory recorded 13 mm rainfall.
As per weather reports, Mumbai and its surrounding areas will receive moderate to heavy rains in the next 24-36 hours after which it will decrease in intensity. However, very heavy rains are likely this weekend.
While it has been over a week since the southwest monsoon arrived in several parts of Maharashtra, including its capital city Mumbai, the statewide rainfall activity for a majority of this period has remained low.
"Generally cloudy sky with moderate rain in city and suburbs. Possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places," the weather agency informed in its daily bulletin.
The India Meteorological Department in its daily bulletin on Sunday also confirmed the development and informed that "fairly widespread/ widespread rainfall with thunderstorm/ lightning is very likely over Karnataka, Konkan and Goa, Kerala and Mahe and Lakshadweep and scattered to fairly widespread rainfall likely over Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Marathwada, Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal during next 5 days." For the last few days, in Maharashtra (Maharashtra), the sky has remained cloudy in most parts of the state including Mumbai and there has been intermittent rain.
With the fresh spell of rain, the air quality in Mumbai is in the 'good category'. System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), a government agency, today morning informed that the overall AQI is at 29 at 8:45 AM.
As per the government agencies, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the westerly winds blowing in along the west coast and a trough from North Interior Karnataka to south Tamil Nadu will collectively cause heavy rains across Maharashtra and its neighbouring states for the next five days -- until June 22 and possibly beyond.
Accordingly, isolated heavy showers have been forecast over South Konkan and Goa from Saturday to Wednesday (June 18-22) and over the ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra from Monday to Wednesday (June 20-22).
Meanwhile, the much-awaited southwest monsoon, which is crucial for agriculture, hit Jharkhand on Saturday and covered four districts of the state, weather officials said. The seasonal rain, which is delayed by eight days from its scheduled time, made entry from northeast parts of the state.
(With agency inputs)
