The city experienced its coldest day in a decade with the Santacruz observatory recording a minimum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius on Saturday. The minimum temperature fell seven degrees below normal (18.2°C), while the maximum temperature at 24.2 degrees Celsius fell seven degrees below normal (31.3°C).
Records tumble
Experts said that Saturday was the second coldest February day in the last decade after February 8, 2008, when the minimum temperature had fallen to 8.5 degrees Celsius. February 8, 2008, also holds the record for being the coldest February day ever recorded. The coldest day in Mumbai ever was January 22, 1962, when the minimum temperature of 7.4 degrees Celsius was recorded. Saturday was also the coldest February in the last 10 years in terms of the lowest maximum temperature. The previous record was set on February 16, 2014 at 26.30 degrees Celsius.
Bishomber Singh, director of the Regional Meteorological Centre in Mumbai, said, “Under the influence of western disturbances over north Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir, the northern regions of the country like Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh received hail and snowfall. Due to which, dry and cold northerly winds prevailed in Mumbai over last few days, leading to a fall in temperature.”
The Regional Meteorological Centre has issued a warning to watch out for cold waves on February 9 and 10 in isolated places of central Maharashtra like Nashik, Pune, Ahmednagar, Dhule and Nandurbar. A ‘cold-day’ warning has been issued in Jalgaon and a warning for thunderstorm accompanied with hail has been issued for central Maharashtra for February 12. K.S. Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai, said, “A gradual rise in temperature is expected from Sunday.”
While weather conditions remain pleasant in the city, air quality continues to be poor, recording a score of 252 in the air quality index, according to data from the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research. The cold wind along with vehicle emissions, deforestation and construction activities have a role to play in the degradation of air quality in the city.
Dr. Anupam Kashyapi, scientist at the weather and air pollution monitoring unit at IMD, Pune, said, “Warm air is lighter, while cold air is heavier, thus having lesser volume. In hot air, particles and pollutants will be spread apart, but in the cold air, the particles will shrink close to the surface.”
