Thirty-five feels like forty-five. This description of Mumbai’s weather is the fallout of rampant urbanisation and fast-depleting green cover in the past three decades, a new study has found. Rapid concretisation has meant that the intensity of heat felt in the city, which also has high humidity, is much severe. Between 1991 and 2018, Mumbai has lost about 81 per cent of its open land and 40 per cent of forests and scrublands, said the study conducted by three universities. 

As towers continue to rise in every nook and corner, the city has also lost about 30 per cent of its water bodies in the past 27 years and built-up area has swelled by 66 per cent. During this time, the average temperature has risen from 34.08 degrees Celsius to 36.28 degrees.