The southwest monsoon touched down on Maharashtra on Friday morning and will reach Mumbai on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, while warning of heavy rainfall in the city.
‘We have declared monsoon onset over the state at 11.30am on Friday. The onset line covers parts of south Konkan, south-central Maharashtra and isolated areas of Marathwada and southern Vidarbha,’ said Ajay Kumar, scientist, IMD, Mumbai. ‘The monsoon line is now over central Arabian sea, and is passing over Ratnagiri, Solapur, Nanded, Adilabad, Kalingpatanam and so on.’
The monsoon is expected make its landing in Mumbai on Saturday. IMD has issued ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall warnings for the city for this weekend. ‘We expect rainfall activity over Mumbai to increase substantially over the next 24 hours, from Friday, allowing the setting in of the southwest monsoon,’ Kumar said.
As per the weather department’s classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rain is considered ‘moderate’, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is ‘heavy’, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is ‘very heavy’ and more than 204.5mm is ‘extreme’.
The city, however, woke up to dry conditions on Friday, as against the moderate thundershowers seen on Thursday. Rainfall in the suburbs between 8.30am Thursday and 8.30am Friday was 41mm, while in south Mumbai it was 30.2mm.
IMD has issued an advisory for many areas along the Konkan coast, including Mumbai, that people should avoid outdoor activities from June 9 to 11. The warning still stands, Kumar said.
The maximum rainfall in the state over the last 24 hours was recorded from Umargaon, Nandurbar, at 208mm, Nilanga, Latur, at 129mm, Shirur, Pune district, at 105mm, Ratnagiri at 63mm, and Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai at 74mm; a few stations in Nanded recorded over 80mm rainfall.
