11 July,2026 08:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Eshanpriya MS
Waterlogging is witnessed on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg on July 4, when heavy showers lashed the city. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Mumbai received about 60 per cent of its seasonal average rainfall between June 29 and July 6, when the city was under an orange and red alert. Colaba and Santacruz recorded 862.6 mm and 969 mm of rainfall in these eight days, respectively, highlighting a recent trend marked by an âerratic', âunpredictable', and âvulnerable' monsoon season, according to experts.
While experts have noted that extreme weather events have become more common in the past few years, intense spells of rain in a shorter duration are now occurring more frequently.
While this does not infer that the actual monsoon season is becoming shorter, analysis points to a trend where continuous, sustained, and balanced rainfall earlier spread more evenly throughout June to September is now concentrated into shorter durations with bouts of heavy rainfall. While rainfall was noticed to be more widespread throughout an area, patchy rainfall with unpredictable intensity is now more common.
969 mm
Rainfall recorded in Santacruz between June 29 and July 6
According to Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet Weather, higher intensity rainfall in shorter durations and more patches of rainfall activity can be attributed to an overall rise in temperatures, which enhance the atmosphere's capacity to retain moisture.
Subtropical regions like India are noticing a change in cloud formation, according to Palawat.
"Earlier, altostratus clouds were more common during the monsoon season, which are uniform and widespread, spanning hundreds of kilometres with the capacity to give widespread and continuous rainfall. Now we have noticed more cumulonimbus clouds, which are vertical towering clouds with the capacity to retain much more moisture over a smaller patch - and are held responsible for weather such as thunderstorms and heavy rain. These are massive, dense and mountain-like, but not widespread, causing patchy, high-intensity rainfall," he said.
Raghu Murtugudde, Earth system scientist, visiting professor, IIT Bombay, and emeritus professor, University of Maryland, said that while observing rainfall patterns, it is important to note the onset and withdrawal of monsoons. "This year, the southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala just two days later than usual, but it got stuck above Solapur for over eight days. This resulted in several parts of the country seeing a delayed monsoon season. Patches in Central India may record a heavy spell of rain towards the middle of the end of the monsoon season, which derails the livelihood of farmers and availability of water, even though the cumulative rainfall received at the end of the monsoon season has not drastically changed."He attributed this to global drivers such as global warming and the El Niño effect, as well as local amplifiers that alter the weather patterns. "For example, the monsoon is shifting northward, and that shift is creating more heatwaves and rainfall in the northwest."
For more Mumbai Monsoon coverage, including weather forecasts, rain updates, transport disruptions, lake levels and civic advisories, visit our Mumbai Monsoon page.
