Heat alert: Brace for a hot, humid week ahead

Brace up for a warm and sultry week ahead as temperatures are likely to remain high except for a thunderstorm activity expected mid-week.

The week started with mercury recording a maximum of 37.5 degree Celsius on Monday while the minimum temperature recorded at Santacruz was 23.5 degree Celsius, which was 4 degree Celsius above normal and till October 15, Mumbai has not received any rains so far.

"Not only Mumbai but the entire Maharashtra is experiencing warm climate and it's mostly due to the dry hot easterly winds from North east India. These winds also cause the sea breeze to set in late and coupled with high humidity it makes the condition very uncomfortable for the coastal areas," shared an IMD official.

Meanwhile Skymet a private weather forecasting agency stated on its portal that a trough is expected to develop over Konkan and Goa around October 19 which may trigger isolated thunderstorm activity or light rains on October 20 and 21. "However, these weather activities will be highly localized and will not be witnessed over the entire state. Therefore, Mumbaikars have to face warm, humid and uneasy weather conditions for some time," it mentioned adding that isolated rains is expected to continue over South Konkan and South Madhya Maharashtra only.

Even as the temperatures were high, Mumbai also saw the air quality being in 'Poor' category. On Monday the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city recorded by the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) was 218, slightly better than Sunday (238).

As per the portal of SAFAR that monitors Air Quality Index (AQI) at 10 stations in Mumbai three stations showed PM 2.5 levels in 'Very Poor' category.