At 37.1 degrees Celsius, Mumbai records highest max temp in state

Mumbai: With the winter season concluded officially, temperatures spiked suddenly in Mumbai on Thursday with the daytime maximum settling four degrees above normal, at 37.1 degrees Celsius (as per the India Meteorological Department’s monitoring station at Santacruz). Thursday’s reading marks Mumbai’s hottest day this year so far. It also marked the highest daytime temperature seen across all IMD monitoring stations across Maharashtra.

This was up from 34.3 degrees Celsius a day prior. Officials attributed the spike to the influence of warm, easterly winds and delayed sea breeze, which typically has a cooling effect in the evenings.

IMD’s monitoring station in south Mumbai’s Colaba area recorded a significantly lower daytime maximum temperature at 33 degrees, which is 1.7 degrees above normal. “This is probably because of Colaba’s close proximity to the sea,” said an official with the IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Mumbai.

As per the IMD’s seven-day forecast for the city, clear to partly clear skies will prevail until March 9, with the maximum temperature hovering between 36 to 37 degrees Celsius, and a minimum temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature recorded on Thursday at Santacruz and Colaba was 22.2 and 22.5 degrees respectively.

“It is difficult to give localised forecasts at this date, but our outlook for the summer does indicate that parts of north Madhya Maharashtra and the Konkan coast in the west may see above normal temperatures this summer season. It is not unusual for Mumbai to see such a spike in temperature during the first few days of March. Warmer conditions will soon be felt in interior Maharashtra as well,” said KS Hosalikar, scientist with the IMD in Pune in charge of their surface instrument division.

The highest recorded temperature in March for the city last year was 40.9 degrees on March 28. On Mumbai’s hottest March day, on March 28, 1956, the temperature had touched 41.7 degrees Celsius.