Explained: Why is Mumbai facing heavy rainfall?

New Delhi, Aug 04: Severe rain is seen lashing on Mumbai and parts of Konkan since Sunday night in a revival of the southwest monsoon over the west coast. It can be seen that Mumbai experienced one of its heaviest showers of July. But now, more rain is expected over the maximum city all through this week.

According to reports, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has placed five districts, including Mumbai, on a red alert as intense rain is expected during the next few hours.

Why is Mumbai paying the price for such heavy rain?

Since Sunday night, there has been continuous heavy rainfall all along the west coast of Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala, with very heavy rain in Mumbai, Ratnagiri and Mahabaleshwar.

According to reports, a low pressure system has been formed in the Bay of Bengal that has pushed the monsoon into its active phase on Tuesday, bringing heavy spells for the west coast. Also, it is expected to shift southwards which will further intensify rainfall activity in the coming three to four days.

What is the present weather forecast for Mumbai?

It can be seen that the IMD has issued a Nowcast warning, valid for the next six hours, for intense spells over Borivili, Powai, Thane, Kalyan, Mulund, Raigad, Harnai, Shrivardhan, Dahanu, Alibag, Ratnagiri, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg.

With the weather systems likely to remain active, heavy to very heavy rainfall will continue to occur over Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Palghar districts till August 6. During the next few days, ghat areas is expected to experience extremely heavy spells.

What is Nowcast?

On June 18, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched a free SMS service called 'NOWCAST'. This provide alerts and updates on extreme weather conditions such as thunder, hailstorms and many others to over one crore registered farmers on their mobile phones.

Nowcast would send updates in English, Hindi and other regional languages as per farmer's choice. The alerts on extreme weather conditions will be provided for every three hours.

Nowcast alerts would be sent to over one crore farmers whose mobile phones are already registered with the government's mKisan portal. The weather conditions and alerts will be taken from 146 weather stations of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).