Mumbai: Taking everyone by surprise, the city and its suburbs, including Navi Mumbai and Thane, experienced unseasonal rainfall on Monday. While the sky remained overcast for most of the morning, the showers were light and were a welcome change from the hot days-cold nights pattern over the past few weeks.
Local train schedules were affected by the sudden rains and delayed office-goers. “Central Railway services were delayed by 20 minutes and Western Railway by 10 minutes. I rely on both lines as I travel for work from Thane to Goregaon. It took an extra 45 minutes to get to office as roads were also jammed,” Mukta Wadhwa, 24, said.
Urjita Wani, 19, a mass media student, said, “It was the first day of the new semester. I planned on being on time and left a little early, but due to the unexpected rains, trains were delayed and I got late for my lectures.”
Road traffic too was hit by traffic snarls, and #Mumbairains began trending on Twitter. However, unlike the usual complaints against poor civic infrastructure, most posts were related to enjoying food and the surprise rains in November. According to the India Meteorological Department, more rains are expected in isolated pockets of the city and the State. “The sky is likely to be generally cloudy. Light rain likely to occur,” the IMD statement said.
Private forecaster Skymet Weather said, “Presently, a low-level trough is extending from South Konkan and Goa to Vidarbha, due to which scattered clouds have developed over many parts of Maharashtra. Another trough is running from coastal Karnataka to Konkan and Goa.” Due to these weather conditions, medium and low clouds have developed over parts of Konkan and Goa including Mumbai. The weather system is not significant, so there won’t be heavy showers.
