Mumbaikars heave sigh of relief from scorching heat and humidity as pre-monsoon rain hits the city on Saturday
After an inordinate delay in monsoon, Mumbaikars heave a sigh of relief from the scorching heat and humidity as heavy pre-monsoon showers hit the financial hub on Saturday and brought some coolness.
IMD’s predictions of arrival of in Mumbai on June 24 is absurd. Monsoon arrives with thunder and lightning. This Saturday rain is first pre-monsoon showers and is only a ‘jalak’ of the heavy rains to set in soon.
The Saturday heavy showers led to waterlogging in several parts of the city.
The city has faced a significant rainfall deficit in the first month itself of the season. Normally, the monsoon officially begins in Mumbai around June 10 or 11.
Moreover, the weather department has issued a yellow alert for the city.
As per latest updates, the weather bureau has predicted light to moderate spells of rain in Thane, Palghar Mumbai during the next 3-4 hours.
Earlier, IMD had said that the monsoon season is likely to reach the city on June 24.
Adding that conditions look favourable for the monsoon to move further towards Mumbai, Thane and Palghar.
According to reports, the Met department has issued a yellow alert for June 26 to 27. Such an alert indicates that the city and adjoining areas will receive heavy rain at isolated places.
Skymet weather agency had earlier predicted that monsoon is expected to arrive in Mumbai by June 27. The weather tracking agency further predicted that Mumbai can witness one of the most delayed monsoons this year. Its arrival date will coincide with the earlier record date of June 27. Skymet has also predicted heavy rainfall for 2-3 days beginning on 27 June and lasting till end of the month.
Such a record in delay in the season was experienced in 2009, when monsoon arrived in Mumbai on 27 June. The delay was the result of El Nino. The condition was the culprit of delayed monsoons in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
However, this year, notwithstanding fulfilling all the preconditions of rainfall, typical monsoon rains remained absent in Mumbai. The delayed arrival of the monsoon in Kerala was further delayed by cyclone Biparjoy.
A press report revealed that the city has received only 5 percent of the required rainfall in June. It added that the city has received a mere 17.9mm out of the expected 342.1mm for June
The average rainfall for June, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), stands at 526.3mm at the Santacruz observatory.
With the delayed monsoon season, the city have also been grappling with water shortage. As of 20 June, the total water stock stood at 13.9 percent which is 1.59 lakh million litres and without the reserve stock, only 7.7 percent which is 1.11 lakh million litres was left.
BMC fears that If rainfall is delayed further, it will initiate water cut for the month of July. Mumbai receives water from seven lakes namely Tansa, Bhatsa, Modak Sagar, Tulsi, Vehar, Upper Vaitarna, and Middle Vaitarna. These lakes are situated in the outskirts of Mumbai as well as neighboring districts such as Thane, Bhiwandi, and Nashik.
