Mumbai recorded the season's lowest temperature on Sunday, November 16, as the temperatures dipped to 17.8 degrees Celsius.
Data procured from the IMD showed that between 5.30 pm on Saturday and 8.30 am on Sunday, the lowest temperatures at the Santacruz observatory in the suburbs were recorded at 17.8 degrees Celsius, which is 3.8 degrees below the normal. Meanwhile, the Colaba coastal observatory recorded minimum temperatures of 22.3 degrees Celsius during the same period.
The drop in temperatures has brought some respite from the heat. Though it has spurred a spike in the air quality index (AQI). Mumbai, on the same day, recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) of 159, with the worst air quality in BKC, where the AQI breached the red ‘very poor’ category at 323.
A day later, on Monday, November 17, the city again woke up to the nip in the air as temperature remained below normal at 18.9 degrees Celsius.
Despite the city being in the midst of a cold spell, IMD officials said that winter is yet to set in. The season is likely to commence in January.
While the minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 16 degrees Celsius over the next 48 hours, senior officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that temperatures are expected to return to normal in the coming week.
The current dip in temperatures comes on the heels of the city recording its coldest November daytime temperature in at least the past decade on November 2. However, the IMD director attributed the drop in temperatures during the first week of the month to unseasonal showers that swept the region.