This year’s November is warmest since 2009: IMD

With just a day for November to end, officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the city recorded the warmest winter month since 2009. IMD officials said this is the first time since 2009, when the minimum temperature in Mumbai has not dropped below 20 degrees Celsius in November.

On Friday, the minimum temperature recorded at Santacruz — representative of Mumbai — was 2.7 degrees above normal at 22.6 degree Celsius. At Colaba, the minimum temperature stood at 23.5 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees above normal.

Last year, Mumbai recorded the lowest minimum temperature — 19.2 degrees Celsius — on November 16.

Over the past 10 years, from 2009 to 2018, lowest minimum temperatures have hovered between 14 and 19 degrees Celsius. The all-time coldest day for the month was on November 19, 1950 when the minimum temperature dropped to 13.3 degrees Celsius.

“It is almost clear that after witnessing the wettest November ever, Mumbai now sees warmest November in a decade. The rains resulted in increased moisture content, and therefore the temperature did not drop,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD. “Minimum temperatures over Mumbai also did not drop because western disturbance did not reach the northern parts of the country.”

Hosalikar said that with the prevailing northeast monsoon, moisture-laden winds over central India, mainly Mumbai, were in the southeasterly direction during November. Hence, humidity over Mumbai remained more than 90% for most part of the month. “Lastly, this is an El Nino year. Climatologically, the winter that follows an El Nino year is generally warmer,” said Hosalikar, adding that the seasonal outlook from December 19 to February 20 indicates a warmer winter season over most parts of India, except the northernmost regions.

Meanwhile, even the day temperatures on Friday were above normal in both suburbs and south Mumbai. Maximum temperature at Santacruz was 34.6 degrees Celsius, 1.4 degrees above normal, and 34.2 degrees Celsius at Colaba.

Officials at IMD said there will be no immediate drop in minimum temperatures. The weather bureau has predicted a minimum temperature of 23 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius for Saturday.