For the second consecutive day, Mumbai sweltered on an abnormally hot winter day as the maximum temperatures touched 35.1 degrees, which is over four degrees above the normal. In no respite for the citizens, dip in temperatures is likely to elude the metropolis for a week at least with the weather department forecasting that the day-time temperatures are likely to hover over 35 degrees until January 23.
Data furnished by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed that on Saturday, the Santacruz observatory logged 35.1 degrees on the recording scales while the Colaba coastal observatory registered 33.6 degrees. In what had made the city, Maharashtra’s hottest day, the mercury levels also surpassed 35 degrees on Friday when the Santacruz station recorded 35.5 degrees.
According to weather experts, the ongoing hot spell is the result of an anti-cyclone over central India, which have resulted in the influx of warm and dry easterly winds.
Rajesh Kapadia from Vagaries of Weather told The Indian Express, “Typically, Mumbai experiences cool weather when we receive cool winds from the north. However, currently, there is an anti-cyclone over central India. Owing to the system, the winds tend to blow clockwise which results in the flow of easterly winds from inland which are dry and warm. Therefore, the temperatures have soared in Mumbai.”
Kapadia added that with the anti-cyclone likely to persist into the next week, temperatures will fail to register a drop before January 23 atleast.
In its forecast bulletin, the IMD has stated that maximum temperatures are set to oscillate between 34 – 35 degree Celsius, which are above normal for the month of January, until January 23. At 19 – 20 degrees the minimum temperatures are also forecast to range above normal.
Earlier this month, the city had also reeled under its hottest January day since 2016 when the maximum temperatures touched 36 degrees on January 3. The hottest January day ever, meanwhile, was recorded in 2006 when the day time temperature hit 37.4 degrees.
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