Mumbai: Mumbaikars witnessed cloudy skies as well as drizzle at isolated parts of the city on Saturday afternoon. Weathermen said that this was a result of two active weather systems which had developed in the Arabian Sea. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also issued a yellow alert for the next five days for Thane and other districts in south Konkan. However, only light rain has been predicted for the city and suburbs over the next five days.
“Drizzle has been observed in the late afternoon Saturday at isolated places in Mumbai. This is owing to two weather systems in southwest and east-central Arabian Sea which are currently prevailing. Moreover the low pressure systems from the Bay of Bengal will keep the monsoon circulation active for some more days,” said an IMD official.
Moreover, there is a sharp drop in wind speed and rise in temperature due to which the pollutant particles are suspended close to the surface which leads to formation of layers of haze.
Meanwhile, the withdrawal of monsoon has further delayed by 8-10 days. This year, monsoon onset was declared on June 14 and the season has already spanned 116 days. It was the second wettest monsoon in history in the city. However IMD had earlier this month said that withdrawal was expected between October 9 and 15.
“Mumbai has missed its normal withdrawal date, but it cannot be said that it is a delayed withdrawal yet because the withdrawal date (October 8) has a standard deviation of plus-minus seven days. So it will not be a delayed withdrawal if declared till October 15,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general, IMD.
KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD, said, “With the prevailing situation, it may take another eight to 10 days for monsoon withdrawal to be declared from Maharashtra and Mumbai.”
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Saturday was 35 degrees Celsius at the Santacruz observatory and 34.6 degrees Celsius at Colaba, both 2.3 degrees Celsius above normal. The minimum temperature was around 27 degrees Celsius at both the observatories.
