Monsoon almost covers Maharashtra; intense rain predicted in Mumbai

Mumbai, June 13: Monsoon has arrived in most parts of Maharashtra with parts of the state, including Mumbai, receiving rainfall on Saturday, an IMD official said. Monsoon is expected to cover the rest of Maharashtra in the next 24 hours, the official said.

Meanwhile, heavy showers have lashed Nashik in north Maharashtra.

The Met department predicted that parts of North Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and Mumbai will get rains overnight.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mumbai centre's deputy director general K S Hosalikar said Nashik reported "very intense" showers over the past two-three hours and added that rains will continue overnight in parts of central Maharashtra, Marathwada and Mumbai.

"Satellite image indicating a thick cloud band around 18-19 Deg N over Maharashtra. Nasik reporting very intense showers in last 2,3 hrs. Rainfall to cont over night in parts of N Madhya Mah, Marathwada, Mumbai to get rains overnight today," Hosalikar tweeted.

As per IMD, monsoon has arrived in most parts of Maharashtra."(Today) rainfall was reported in Harnai (in Ratnagiri) in Konkan, Ahmednagar in central Maharashtra, Aurangabad in Marathwada and Gondia in Vidarbha.

In the next 24 hours, the rest of Maharashtra is expected to be covered," the official said. Heavy rainfall was reported at two places in Ratnagiri at 8:30 am while some parts of Sindhudurg, also a coastal district, witnessed "very heavy" rainfall, he said.

"Over the next four to five days, Konkan, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall," the official added.

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai issued warning at 5:30 pm, predicting "thunderstorm accompanied with lightning, intense spells of rain and gusty winds speed reaching 30-40 kmph likely to occur" at isolated places in the districts of Mumbai, Palghar, Hingoli, Parbhani and Jalna in the next few hours.

The Colaba weather station in Mumbai recorded 1.5 mm rainfall between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm on Saturday, while the Santacruz bureau reported 2.1 mm rainfall during the same period. The Chikalthana weather bureau in Aurangabad reported 29 mm rainfall during this time span.

The Matheran bureau in Raigad district recorded 80 mm rainfall during the period. There were "traces" of rainfall, the Dahanu weather station reported. The arrival of the southwest monsoon was announced in south and coastal Maharashtra on Thursday.