Maharashtra: Heavy unseasonal rain surprises Mumbaikars and meteorologists

The rain on Tuesday morning surprised Mumbai even meteorologists who had not expected it Mumbai recorded the highest rainfall in the month of March since 2006 with itMeteorologists attributed the weather condition to westerly winds picking up Westerly winds lead to moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea Mumbai is currently experiencing light to moderate rain mostly in the suburbs said Sushma Nair scientist with India Meteorological Departments IMD Regional Meteorological Centre RMC ColabaPeople make their way through the rain at Sion PicAtul KambleAfter a break of two days on Tuesday Mumbaikars awoke to an unusually rainy morning with the unseasonal rain pounding the western suburbs Following the rain and thunder in the morning on Tuesday the IMD updated their nowcast immediate forecast stating the city and adjoining areas would witness thunderstorms with lightning light to moderate rain and gusty winds reaching 30 to 40 kmphRainfall recorded at IMDs Santacruz observatory on Tuesday was at 169 mm while Colaba recorded 254 mmAlso Read In Photos Rain lashes parts of Mumbai Thane RaigadRecord for March 371 mmldquoThis is not only the highest rainfall recorded in 24 hours during the month of March but also the highest total rainfall recorded for the entire month of March since 2006 The previous 24 hours highest was 119 mm on March 10 2006 with 131 mm recorded total rainfall in March 2006 The alltime record in Colaba for March is 371 mm in 1918rdquo said Rajesh Kapadia of Vagaries of the Weather a popular private weather blogHe added ldquoTuesdayrsquos rain was totally unexpected Such intense rain is rare in March Mumbai does sometimes witness light rain and thunder in the month of March What happened in the early hours of Tuesday was totally unexpectedrdquoExplaining the reason for the showers and thunder Kapadia said ldquoWesterly winds picked up late Monday night to the upper levels of the atmosphere bringing in moistureclouds Also late on Monday night the humidity got very low at around 47 per cent This was due to the highlevel trough lowpressure area in the north Konkan This attracted winds causing rainrdquoA meteorologist from Skymet Weather a private weather forecasting agency said ldquoWeather conditions have observed some kind of change due to pan India rainfall activity which has resulted in heat leaving most parts of the country Extreme heat is unlikely to return in the next few daysrdquoHow much it rainedKoparkhairane 41 mmVashi 39 mmMemonwada 38 mmMumbai Central 35 mmBhendi Bazaar 34 mmPawne and Mumbra 33 mmSanpada 32 mmByculla and Malabar Hill 31 mmAadharwadi and Grant Road 30 mmMarine Lines 27 mmKopri 26 mmSion Colaba and Grant Road 25 mmElphinstone Road 24 mmCSMT 23 mmDahisar Virar and Matheran 22 mmDadar East 21 mmPanvel and Vile Parle 20 mmAiroli and Nerul 19 mmBelapur Haji Ali and Powai 18 mmSantacruz IMD 169 mmAndheri and Sakinaka 16 mmNaupada 15 mmMalad and Worli 14 mmBandra 13 mmKandivli 12 mmJogeshwari 7 mmGoregaon 8 mmBorivli 5 mmDombivli 3 mmRainfall was recorded in Mumbai and MMR till 9 am on TuesdayData credit IMD BMC Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology IITM and Vagaries of the Weather