Mumbai's weather has been erratic since December, an indication of the worldwide phenomenon of climate change, says Dr R V Sharma, deputy director general, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The city had 76 mm rain on Monday with the maximum temperature plummeting to an uncharacteristic 24.7°C in Colaba and 25°C in Santacruz. As Newsline traced the weather over the past year, “anomalies” showed since mid-December.

December
Untimely clouds replaced the winter nip. IMD had said these were non-rainy, formed due to unusual interaction between the easterly and westerly systems. Yet, December ended on a rather chilly note, Santacruz recording 12.8°C on December 31, the second lowest December temperature in a decade.

January
The cold winter came to an abrupt end on New Year’s Day, as an incursion of northeasterly and easterly winds lifted temperatures to around 18.4-30.6°C and in Colaba and 15.3-31.6°C in Santacruz. By the third week, the maximum was 37°C, before dipping to 32°C. The minimum that winter remained around 20°C, two degrees above normal.

At the end of that month, when winter usually peaks, IMD said it was one of the four hottest Januarys in a decade with the temperature reaching 36°C and over on January 23 and 24.

March
Summer officially began on March 1 but the temperature was already touching 37°C, a degree above normal for the season. By March 10, the temperature had soared so high, it caused impromptu thunderstorms and localised rains. Such conditions lasted nearly a week. The Met department had said such local weather systems are caused due to severe moisture accumulated in a particular small region due to a steep rise in temperature.

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