Mumbai: Sept, the last month of the monsoon, ended on a dry note this year.At 306.6mm, IMD’s Santacruz observatory, which is considered the benchmark for the city, logged its second lowest Sept rainfall in a decade. It was about 15% less than its monthly average of 359.6mm. The Colaba weather station’s 175.1mm was the second lowest in 20 years and third lowest in 25 years, recording less than half its monthly average of 359.6mm. The lowest Sept rainfall was in 2018—73.1mm in Santacruz and 59.5mm in Colaba.There is a silver lining: the overall southwest monsoon season has not been poor in the suburbs. With 2,530.5mm over four months, the Santacruz observatory has already crossed its seasonal average of 2,318.8mm. With 1,957.1mm, Colaba, however, did not reach its seasonal average of 2,094.6mm .Rajesh Kapadia, an independent weather forecaster, said rainfall this season has been sporadic rather than evenly distributed. “After Aug 15, Mumbai saw a prolonged lull, largely because the weather systems from Bay of Bengal were not moving westwards towards MP and Maharashtra. While rainfall was vigorous whenever the systems did arrive, the distribution was uneven. The strengthening El Niño after Aug also suppressed the westward movement of these systems, while an anti-cyclone over western India further influenced their tracks.”Kapadia expects the monsoon in the city to recede from Saturday. Oct 8 is the normal withdrawal date for Mumbai.
