Mumbai temperature shoots up to record high

Mumbai recorded the highest maximum temperature in the country at 39.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday as there was no sea breeze blowing across the city during the day, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD had warned of a heat wave for Sunday and Monday.

The Santacruz observatory and the Colaba observatory recorded a temperature of 39.4 degrees Celsius and 35.8 degrees Celsius, respectively, on Sunday.

“This is for the second time this month that Mumbai has recorded the highest maximum temperature in the country. On March 6, Santacruz (observatory) recorded 39.1 degrees Celsius, also the highest in the country. On Sunday, it recorded 39.4 degrees Celsius,” said IMD scientist Rajendra Jenamani.

He said the temperature recorded on the Konkan coast, which includes Mumbai, was 4-6 degrees Celsius above normal on March 12.

This was also observed between March 5-7 when the temperature was 5-7 degrees above normal, Mr Jenamani added.

He said normally the Konkan coast records low temperatures at this time of the year because of the sea breeze at around 11.30 am to 1 pm. However, in the last seven-ten days no sea breeze or it has been delayed because of the dominant easterly winds and this has resulted in high temperatures, he added.