Mumbai: South Mumbai was the hottest place in Maharashtra on Monday, with the Colaba observatory recording a maximum temperature of 37.3°C, 3.8°C above normal, as the city saw a sharp rise in daytime temperatures after a relatively cooler Sunday. Santacruz, meanwhile, recorded 37.1°C, 3.1°C above the seasonal average, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Even the early morning hours brought little relief, with minimum temperatures at both observatories remaining above normal. With winds continuing to remain absent, pollutants lingered in the air. PM10 remained the dominant pollutant.
The jump was significant compared with Sunday, when maximum temperatures at Colaba and Santacruz stood at 33.7°C and 34.3°C, respectively. Colaba recorded a minimum of 27.4°C, 2.2°C above normal, while Santacruz logged 25.4°C, 1.5°C above normal. Humidity at Colaba dropped from 75% at 8.30am to 53% by 5.30pm. At Santacruz, it fell from 73% to 69% during the same period. Mumbai’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 114 on Monday, in the moderate category, down from 127 on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Of the city’s 20 active air quality monitoring stations, 13 recorded AQI levels between 103 at Colaba and Kurla and 159 at Navy Nagar. The remaining seven reported readings ranging from 76 at Borivali East to 93 at Colaba and Mindspace in Malad West.
