The city witnessed its hottest December day in 16 years with a temperature of 37.3 degrees Celsius on December 4, a day after light drizzle in the morning in different parts of Mumbai. This is a sharp surge in temperature within a week after the city recorded its coldest day in eight years on November 29, when the mercury had dropped to 16.5 degrees Celsius.
This has been blamed on strong easterly winds and an increase in moisture, a remnant of Cyclone Fengal which crossed the coast of Tamil Nadu on November 30, by the meteorologists from IMD. According to Sushma Nair, scientist, IMD Mumbai: “The strength of the easterly winds was very strong, the sea breeze set in much later. Also, there was an anticyclone at 700 hPa which also caused the spurt in daytime temperature.
Sunil Kamble, regional director of IMD Mumbai, explained that the cyclone caused a low-pressure formation in the Arabian Sea, which caused the moisture incursion that brought rain over the region.
A light drizzle brought the humidity level up, pushing temperatures up by 4 degree Celsius above normal, according to a reading at the Santacruz observatory. The IMD records showed that the last time Mumbai had recorded a hotter December day was on December 5, 2008, with a temperature of 37.7 degree Celsius. The all-time high in December was recorded at 39.8 degree Celsius in 1987.
A day after recording the hottest December day in 16 years, Mumbai also witnessed a warm night with minimum temperatures settling at 25.5 degree Celsius. The IMD has forecast light rain in neighboring districts of Raigad and Ratnagiri for the next two days. Warmer climes will continue to prevail over Mumbai for the next 3-4 days, followed by a drop in temperature.
