Delayed onset, but Mumbai gets 97% of June’s rain refill

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MUMBAI : Despite witnessing one of the most delayed onsets of monsoon on June 25, Mumbai has already received 97% of its expected June rainfall, recording 521mm of rain till now, of which 503mm was recorded over the past six days alone.

This is in sharp contrast to last year, when the city saw a timely onset of monsoons, i.e. June 11, 2022, but registered only 291mm of rainfall for the entire month. Furthermore, in another bout of heavy showers recorded in a 24-hour period ending at 8:30am on Thursday, the IMD Colaba observatory recorded 148mm of rainfall, while the Santacruz observatory witnessed 121mm.

City’s IMD Santacruz observatory records an average rainfall of 537.1mm in the month of June while IMD Colaba records around 542mm. This year, according to IMD data, the Santacruz observatory has so far recorded 521mm of rainfall while IMD Colaba has recorded 406mm, of which 371mm was in the period between June 24-29.

In its five-day forecast for Mumbai, the IMD has stated rains would continue till July 3, but with varied intensity. For June 30, a yellow alert has been issued, predicting heavy rainfall at isolated places, while from June 30 onwards, a green alert is in place, indicating moderate rainfall.

This indicates that by weekend, rain activity is likely to reduce in comparison to what was recorded over the past few days. “While Mumbai received heavy to very heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours (from June 28-29), gradual reduction in rainfall activity is expected during the next 2-3 days,” said an IMD official, adding that the synoptic situations giving the city rains include an off-shore trough at mean sea level runs from Maharashtra coast to Kerala coast, a cyclonic circulation which lies over south Gujarat and neighbourhood in middle tropospheric levels and a low pressure area which now (as off Thursday) lies over central parts of north Madhya Pradesh and neighbourhood.

After a heavy rain day on Wednesday, Thursday saw comparatively less rainfall, but a brief heavy spell of rain during the morning hours forced the Andheri subway to shut down. “Due to accumulation of 1.5 to 2 feet water, Andheri subway is closed for vehicular movement,” said Mumbai Traffic police in a tweet on social media. In the twelve hours ending 5.30pm on Thursday, the IMD Colaba observatory recorded 11.8mm of rainfall and the IMD Santacruz observatory recorded 18.4mm.