Sultry Feb will get hotterMumbai: While the city enjoyed a few cool days last month, this February has been nothing but hot till now. Even though Mumbaikars have been complaining about heat already, if the past year trends are to be believed, the city is in for higher temperatures next week. Records of regional meteorology department for the past seven years clearly show that the maximum temperature in Mumbai has risen to as high as 38 degrees celcius in the month of February. Interestingly, with the exception of 2007, records show that the highest temperature has been registered in the last five days of the current month. “This means, the city might have a few days of extremely high temperature next week,” said a weather officer. Even though the meteorology department does not predict temperatures for more than four days in advance, it says the city need not worry. “Even as the minimum temperature might increase by a degree or two, it is unlikely that the maximum temperature will increase much. The city should not worry about the heat before late next month,” said the duty officer from meteorology department. But if the temperature trend is observed this month, Mumbai has experienced the hottest day on February 8 at 35.3 degrees celcius, but it hasn’t experienced maximum temperature lower than 29 degree celcius during the entire month. Meanwhile, humidity levels in the city have reached another high. On Thursday, Colaba recorded a relative humidity of 75%, a level unheard of in February last year. However, with 80% recorded in Colaba, humidity was highest on February 6 this year. Once again, the weather bureau says there is nothing to worry about. “Mumbai being near the coast, humidity levels are bound to rise. But the levels do not remain constant for long. Tomorrow we might experience 40% humidity,” said the officer. 
SUN DIAL: Even humidity
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