Mumbai weather updates: City shivers as mercury dips to 14 degrees celsius

Thick layer of fog seen over the city skyline on December 5, 2024. File pic/Shadab Khan

Mumbai's minimum temperature plummeted to 14 degrees Celsius on Monday morning, recording a sharp drop in the last 48 hours.

After witnessing a significant drop in its minimum temperature by four degrees Celsius within 24 hours on Sunday and by six degrees in 48 hours, meteorologists now anticipate a sharp decline in temperatures to continue across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, in the coming days. This sudden change, described by many as "unexpected," has already started to take effect from Monday morning.

Two schoolkids of St Joseph High School in Wadala wear beanies as they wait for their school bus in Sion. Pic/Atul Kamble

As per the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Santacruz observatory, the city recorded a minimum temperature of 16.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday, which is 2.2 degrees below the seasonal average, which dropped further to 14 degrees Celsius on Monday. On Saturday, December 14, the nighttime temperature was recorded at 20.1 degrees Celsius, exceeding the normal by 1.6 degrees.

Weather experts have indicated that the city's nighttime temperatures are expected to remain below average during the first half of this week.

"We had predicted a dip in minimum temperature hovering around 18-16 degrees Celsius. However, such a sharp drop was unexpected due to the incoming northerly winds. There is a possibility of temperatures increasing again after December 18 due to the influence of easterly winds. For now, the overall temperature drop can be attributed to a shift in the prevailing weather patterns," said Sushma Nair, scientist at IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre Mumbai.

"The anticyclone we mentioned on Monday persisted and extended into Madhya Maharashtra now, resulting in low temperatures. Surely current low temperatures were not expected," said climatologist Rajesh Kapadia of Vagaries of Weather, a private weather blog.

Explaining the weather system and the dip in temperature, meteorologists at Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, said, "Snowfall over the Himalayas is crucial for the onset of winter in the region. As the western disturbance passed, cold winds from the snow-covered mountains began to sweep across the Northwest and parts of Central India, leading to a sharp decline in temperatures. Currently, temperatures have dropped significantly over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, including Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

While Mumbai recorded a minimum temperature of 14 degrees Celsius, other areas in Maharashtra also experienced low temperatures. Some of the areas that recorded minimum temperature below seven degrees include Ahilyanagar: 5.5 degrees Celsius, Pusad (Yavatmal): 5.6 degrees Celsius, Mohol (Solapur): 6 degrees Celsius, NDA (Pune): 6.1 degrees Celsius, Pabal (Shirur): 6.2 degrees Celsius, and Shahada (Nandurbar): 6.4 degrees Celsius. Apart from this, other areas with lower temperatures include Talegaon (Pune) at 8.3 degrees Celsius, Rajgurunagar (Pune) at 8.5 degrees Celsius, Baramati at seven degrees Celsius, and Daund at 7.3 degrees Celsius.