Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and its neighboring regions, including Thane and Raigad, ahead of Diwali on Thursday, October 26, bringing much-needed relief from the October heat.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘yellow’ warning for thunderstorms in several regions for today and tomorrow in its forecast.
“Thunderstorm accompanied by lightning, light to moderate rainfall and gusty winds (30/40 km/h) in isolated places,” the meteorological agency said.
A yellow alert has been issued for the following counties:
The IMD has predicted heavy rains over Raigad, Ratnagiri, Nashik, Ghats of Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Pune, Ghats of Pune, Kolhapur, Ghats of Kolhapur, Satara and Ghats of Satara in the next few days.
Forecast in Mumbai
The IMD has forecast thundershowers and/or light to moderate rain for Mumbai on Thursday. However, the meteorological agency has predicted dry days for Mumbai city till Diwali, October 20.
The Southwest Monsoon is withdrawing
The southwest monsoon withdrew from the entire country on Thursday, a day after the usual date of October 15, the IMD said.
At the same time, the northeast monsoon set over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka and Kerala-Mahe, the IMD said.
This year, the monsoon reached Kerala on May 24, its earliest onset over the Indian mainland since 2009 when it arrived on May 23.
It covered the entire country nine days before the usual date of July 8. This was the first time a monsoon had covered the entire country since 2020, when it did so by 26 June.
A primary rain system usually starts over Kerala on 1 June and covers the entire country by 8 July. It begins to retreat from northwest India around September 17th and fully withdraws by October 15th.
