Colaba feels the heat

 

Mumbai: While the city saw the highest maximum temperature in March (38 degrees Celsius on March 22), April has brought in some strange trends.
    Even as the maximum temperatures have hovered around 34-35 degrees Celsius—nowhere near the 40-degrees Celsius benchmark of 2009, of late the mercury has been swinging wildly in Colaba.
    Between Colaba and Santa Cruz—the two places where temperature and humidity levels are measured daily—Santa Cruz observes extreme temperature. But if the readings of the last two weeks are anything to go by, Colaba, which observes a lower maximum temperature than Santa Cruz in summer, is becoming hotter. From April 14 to April 21, with the exception of one day, the maximum temperature of Colaba has been more than that of Santa Cruz, shows data from the meteorology department.
    “The temperature of Santa Cruz is always higher than Colaba as the latter is surrounded by sea on three sides and experiences heavy sea breeze,” said R V Sharma, deputy directorgeneral of meteorology department, Mumbai.
    “Both the pockets have north-easterly wind flow coming in from Rajasthan and Gujarat, thus making the temperature rise. But it gets balanced in Colaba because of the sea breeze, which lowers the temperature,” said Sharma. “Lately, there’s been no sea breeze in this pocket. As a result, the maximum temperature has either soared or remained similar to that in Santa Cruz,’’ he added.
    This means that SoBo denizens would have a comparatively tough time this summer than their suburban counterparts, especially as there’s no change in the relative humidity levels of Colaba. “The humidity levels in Santa Cruz have been low at 65-70%. Colaba, on the other hand, has witnessed high humidity levels at 75-80%,’’ said a weather bureau officer.