Mumbai lags behind even as monsoon catches up in country

Even though showers in August have brought down the deficit in many parts of the country, Mumbai continues to suffer, reeling under a 53 per cent deficit for island city and 38 per cent deficit for suburbs from June 1 to August 15.

From 8.30 AM on August 1 to 8.30 AM on August 17, the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s Santacruz weather station recorded only 78.6 mm of rainfall while Colaba weather station was better, recording 174.3 mm. This compares badly with the average monthly rainfall recorded from 2004 to 2011, with Santacruz's average being 692.5 mm and Colaba's 550.6 mm.

According to IMD Delhi, August rainfall for Konkan region (including Mumbai) was expected to be near normal. However, some parts of Konkan have received more rain and Mumbai has the highest deficit in the region.

"If you see the country as a whole, states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab have received good rain in August and covered up a large part of their deficit. However, Mumbai is still lagging," said S Sudevan, director of weather forecast, IMD Mumbai.

"We have not yet a seen spell of continuous heavy rainfall for two-three days this season, which we see twice or thrice every month in monsoon," he said.

From the beginning of this week till 5.30 pm on Friday, the suburbs have received only 1 mm of rain while the island city fared better with 16.8 mm. "We are in a phase of subdued activity at the moment. There are no weather systems as such, which are affecting our region. Thus, only light rain is expected over the weekend," said Sudevan

However, weather officials said the city is likely to see good rain from Monday onwards. "A low pressure area has formed over northwest Bay of Bengal, which is likely to affect us from Sunday or Monday onwards and result in an increase in activity," he said.

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