The India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s Mumbai observatory has predicted thunderstorms with lightning, light to moderate rain, and gusty gusts reaching 30 to 40 kmph in the next three to four hours, isolated areas in the districts of Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad.
City woke up to cloudy, gloomy and breezy weather as several parts of Mumbai and its suburbs witnessed sudden rains early this morning, March 21. However, this resulted in waterlogging in various areas of the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai including Turbhe, Bhandup.
These unseasonal heavy showers made a strong presence in Thane, Goregaon, Borivali, Jogeshwari, and Andheri. Apart from this, there was light rain in Vikhroli and Ghatkopar areas. But in the next few hours, this rain is likely to move towards Dadar, Parel, and South Mumbai.
Moreover, it is pertinent to note that these heavy spells were completely unexpected for Mumbaikars as a day prior, on Monday, March 20, the city saw intense sunshine.
On the other hand, IMD Pune reinstated that every year, the month of March has been witnessing sporadic spells of light rainfall with thunder activity. The pattern is recorded by IMD from 1901 to 2019.
The weather forecast agency maintained that the rainfall in March is not down to climate change, but has been a regular occurrence.
In a brief sight of relief, the recent rainfall activity has helped improving the air quality index (AQI). It has cleared the air by washing away most of the common air pollutants through a process called wet deposition.
Mumbai marked a ‘good’ AQI as the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) dashboard in the afternoon yesterday, March 20. It showed the city’s overall AQI to be 89, which is regarded as ‘good+satisfactory’.
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