MUMBAI: What began as a hot and sunny day and continued to be so for several hours, turned dark and rainy by 5 pm. Around 4.30 pm on Thursday, first thunderstorms were witnessed in parts of Navi Mumbai such as Koparkhairane and Ghansoli. Later besides entire Navi Mumbai, Thane, Borivli and Andheri also witnessed intense thunder and rain activity.
This was then followed by heavy rains, a complete dampener especially for those devotees who had planned to visit Ganpati pandals on the last day before the Anant Chathurthi on Friday. Thursday was also the Mount Mary Feast Day, and many had planned visits to seek blessings and offer prayers. Many motorists and commuters said that the weather activity in some areas also reduced visibility leading to traffic congestion. “Very less visibility. Very severe traffic jam at garam masala hotel signal (while going from airoli toll naka towards rabale. Very horrible. It took me 45 mins to cross garam masala hotel signal from airoli toll naka,” read a tweet by the handle @amardasbhalla.
This was then followed by heavy rains, a complete dampener especially for those devotees who had planned to visit Ganpati pandals on the last day before the Anant Chathurthi on Friday. Thursday was also the Mount Mary Feast Day, and many had planned visits to seek blessings and offer prayers. Many motorists and commuters said that the weather activity in some areas also reduced visibility leading to traffic congestion. “Very less visibility. Very severe traffic jam at garam masala hotel signal (while going from airoli toll naka towards rabale. Very horrible. It took me 45 mins to cross garam masala hotel signal from airoli toll naka,” read a tweet by the handle @amardasbhalla.
The IMD in its five-day forecast stated that on September 9 thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds and heavy rains are very likely. From September 10 to 12, heavy rainfall at isolated places was very likely. A yellow alert indicating the same is already in place.
In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Thursday, the rainfall recorded by the IMD Colaba and Santa Cruz observatories was 32.6 mm and 26.4 mm, respectively. This season the rainfall recorded by the IMD Colaba and Santacruz observatories has been 1,720 mm and 2,226mm, respectively.
