Mumbai: The city experienced its second heat wave in less than a week on Monday, with the maximum temperature in the suburbs soaring to 38.2°C, 5.1 degrees above normal. The city had recorded a heat wave earlier on October 9, when the maximum temperature touched 37.8°C, 4.7 degrees above normal. A heat wave is declared if the temperature deviates more than 4.5°C from normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
“October heat in Mumbai is infamous. Monday’s maximum temperature was the second-highest recorded in October, after the all-time high of 38.6°C recorded on October 17, 2015. The Colaba observatory registered a maximum temperature of 36.5°C, which was 3.9 degrees above normal.. However, a deviation of 5.1 degrees from the normal is high. However, he warned that the winter months were likely to be warm, with potential implications for the summer of 2027, as per global climate forecasts.
Because in the morning around 9am when people go for work, the temperature was 32-33 degrees, and it didn’t dissipate even at 7pm,” said KS Hosalikar, former head of IMD Mumbai, it’s worrisome.
Hosalikar said it was too early to establish a link between the current temperatures and the emergence of a Super El Niño.
Senior IMD scientist Sushma Nair attributed the current high temperatures to an anticyclone. “The anti-cyclonic winds continued to be in and around Mumbai’s neighbourhood and the easterly winds blowing along the coastline is delaying the setting of the sea breeze. This is impacting the weather conditions which will remain hot and humid.
We are expecting the precipitation to lead to some drop in temperatures on Tuesday.”
