A wet Bhandup station on Wednesday. Mumbaikars can expect rain on Thursday too
MUMBAI: December began on a wet note for Mumbaikars, with two new marks being set. While the city on Wednesday recorded its second- highest 24-hour rainfall ever for the month, the unseasonal showers sent the maximum temperature plunging by 9 degrees Celsius to its second-lowest for December in a decade.
An IMD scientist attributed the rains to a cyclonic circulation over south-east Arabian Sea and the adjoining Lakshadweep which now lies over south-east and east-central Arabian Sea. The rain is expected to continue on Thursday, the IMD said.
On Wednesday, in the 12-hour period ending 8.30pm, the IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded 41.6mm of rain and Colaba 43.2mm. The highest December rainfall of 53 mm was recorded in 2017 owing to Cyclone Ockhi moving close to the city’s coast.
In the afternoon, BMC’s automatic weather stations recorded maximum rainfall in the eastern suburbs. Between 2pm and 6pm, the Dadar and Dahisar stations recorded 21mm of rainfall and the Vikrohli AWS 22.4mm. Civic officials said there were no waterlogging complaints and train and vehicular traffic were not affected.
The rain sparked a fall in the mercury, with both Santacruz and Colaba logging a maximum temperature of 24.8 degrees, down from Tuesday’s 33.3 degrees and 8.4 degrees below normal. In fact, there was barely any difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures; Santacruz saw a minimum of 23.8 degrees and Colaba 24.5 degrees.
Dec rain effect: Fishermen warned, farmers worried
A tweet from the handle @Francis_Joseph read, “I slept in Mumbai last night and woke up in Mahabaleshwar today morning. All changed outside my house overnight, thanks to #MumbaiRains #ClimateChange.”
Shubhangi Bhute, scientist at the IMD, said fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea as rains/thunderstorms are expected to continue in Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Mumbai till Thursday.
Meanwhile, grape, onion and vegetable farmers are worried as unseasonal rain lashed Nashik district. The unseasonal rain can have an adverse effect on the budding, flowering and harvesting of the fruits at various stages. “We just can’t understand the weather. We had to wait almost till August (two months into monsoon season) for good rainfall, and now we are two months into winter (December) and it is raining like its monsoon,” said Ganesh Patil from Niphad taluka.
Jagannath Khapre, president of the Grape Exporters’ Association of India, said, ” While in north Nashik, farmers are harvesting grapes, grapes in Niphad, Nashik, Dindori are in flowering phase. The rain and chill leads to cracking of ready fruits. In case of flowering, water staying on for a duration of five hours can lead to decay. What will the farmers do now?”
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