Thunderstorm throws up dust across MMR

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) experienced a brief thunderstorm on Friday afternoon, with gusty winds tossing up dust everywhere, affecting visibility.

The regional weather centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a thunderstorm warning around noon. “It was when instability in the atmosphere was observed, which led to a thunderstorm,” said Sushma Nair, a scientist at IMD. The IMD alert read: “Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and light to moderate rainfall with gusty winds at 30-40 kilometres per hour.”

As gusty winds threw up dust across the city, several residents posted pictures and videos on X. “Heavy dust storm came for 10 minutes around 4 pm today at Thane from Kalyan towards Mumbai (sic),” wrote a user with the handle @ryshy7, along with videos shot from a high-rise building showing poor visibility. “Scary dust storm hits Mumbai, it feels like the scene from The Mummy — the entire area is engulfed, can’t go outside,” wrote another X user, Mihir Jha.

However, what citizens called a dust storm was part of the thunderstorm, according to the IMD. This is common in the pre-monsoon period between March 1 and May 31, said Nair. “The city is not new to these weather conditions. This thunderstorm will subside in the next few hours, and the city will see warmer days ahead,” she added.

Weather forecast

The city can expect an increase in temperature over the next five days, with the maximum temperature rising up to 37 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature up to 27 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD. Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other isolated pockets of Maharashtra are under a yellow alert, with hot and humid conditions expected till April 8.

The IMD advisory stated that people should avoid heat exposure, wear lightweight and light-coloured clothes, and cover their heads with a cloth, hat, or umbrella.

On Friday, the IMD weather observatory in Santacruz recorded a maximum temperature of 33.7 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 27.5 degrees Celsius, which was 4.5 degrees above normal.

The weather observatory in Colaba recorded a maximum temperature of 33.7 degrees Celsius, which was 1.3 degrees above normal, and a minimum temperature of 26.6 degrees Celsius, which was 2.2 degrees above normal.