After a break of a week, rain in Mumbai commenced over the weekend. In 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded 27.2 mm of rainfall, which falls in the moderate category. Colaba station recorded 2.2 mm of rain. It, however, did not rain on Sunday.
The IMD has forecast an increase in the rainfall activity over Mumbai in the first week of July. The intensity of rain is likely to increase around July 3 and 5, it said.
As per IMD’s 24-hour forecast, the city will witness thundershowers at a few places and moderate rainfall on Monday. Its district rainfall forecast says that for the next four days, light to moderate rain is expected in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Meanwhile, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg are very likely to receive heavy rain at isolated places on Monday and Tuesday.
So far, there has been only one intense spell of rain on June 18 in Mumbai – after the IMD declared monsoon onset in the city – leading to 41 mm rain in the suburbs and 44 mm in south Mumbai. After that only sporadic showers, mostly during the night or early morning, have been witnessed.
The southwest monsoon officially covered Mumbai on June 14, but the city is yet to witness a continuous downpour.
The total rainfall recorded so far since June 1 is 344.4 mm, which is 105.7 mm below the monthly average. According to the state-wise rainfall distribution between June 1 and June 24, Akola and Yavatmal districts have recorded deficient rainfall.
The southwest Monsoon had covered the entire country on Friday. Though the formation of cyclone Nisarga in the Arabian Sea posed a threat and had potential to delay the monsoon progress from Maharashtra onwards north, it was not realised, said IMD.