High temp,humidity bring in rains

Soaring temperatures throughout the day and out-of-season thundershowers at night have become an everyday feature in Mumbai over the past week.

Soaring temperatures throughout the day and out-of-season thundershowers at night have become an everyday feature in Mumbai over the past week. The India Meteorological Department,Mumbai,on Saturday said such local weather systems are caused owing to accumalation of high moisture in a small region following a steep rise in temperature.

R V Sharma,deputy director of IMD Mumbai,said,such showers are an outcome of local heating that results in humidity. Over the past two to three days,the temperatures have been rather high. As a result,moisture begins to develop from the early evenings,starting from around 3.30 pm to 4 pm. As evening progresses,the moisture rises higher and results in cloud formation. The impromptu accumulation of clouds then causes thunderstorms and rains. Sometimes,of course,they disintegrate.

He said such clouds usually start appearing by the end of April or beginning of May,but added,sometimes,when the heating is intense,the activity begins much earlier.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile,the wind directions are also showing unusual patterns,Sharma said. For the past few days,the winds are easterly to north-easterly till 12 noon. Then,they switch to westerly and north-westerly direction.

The outcome of this shift is that while mornings see hot and dry land-bound air that raises the temperatures,the westerly sea-bound air hitting the city after noon brings in moisture raising the relative humidity. That is also why the thunderstorms occur during early evening or night, Sharma said.

The IMD has predicted partly cloudy skies and a possibility of thunder and cloud development towards evening or night till Sunday. Following Friday nights showers in several parts of the city,the city had,however,recorded a slight drop in its maximum temperatures – 32.6 degrees and 34.4 degrees Celsius in Colaba and Santacruz respectively. The relative humidity,however,is still high at 64 per cent and 61 per cent in the city and the suburbs.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Mumbai
weather