Colaba records wind speed of 102 km/hr from Taukate, lets see historic Mumbai wind speeds from Cyclones

May 17, 2021
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Past Cyclones that affected Mumbai
Mumbai Cyclones are very very rare, very rarely we see cyclone making landfall as Cyclonic Storm in Kerala or Karnataka or Maharashtra. We can note down them and even memorize them. Have gone through the archives and found that two significant cyclones (1940 & 1948) that crossed near / over Mumbai. And have taken Nisarga too for comparative analysis of windspeeds.
1. 1940 Bombay Cyclone – Was the first cyclone to cross Bombay
Period October 12-16, 1940. The cyclone crossed right over Mumbai is the strongest cyclone Mumbai has faced till 1948 cyclone came. The maximum sustained winds (MSW) was 97 km/hr (60 miles/hr) while the gusts was 121 km/hr (75 miles/hr) over Colaba station. This was the 1st cyclone to cross Mumbai as a severe cyclone in recorded history. Colaba recorded 76 mm rainfall on October 16, 1940.
Maximum Sustained winds – Colaba  97 km/hr
Gusts – Colaba 121 km/hr
2. 1948 Bombay Cyclone – Strongest ever Mumbai cyclone
The 2nd cyclone Bombay saw was in 1948, just 8 years after the 1st one. It crossed 45 miles of Mumbai but the winds were felt more severe over Bombay with Juhu getting gusts of 151 km/hr and Colaba had gusts of 129 km/hr. The winds and damage were more than the 1940 Bombay Cyclone. Colaba recorded 101 mm rainfall on November 22, 1948. 47 people manning the SS Dipavathi drowned in the sea. Bombay came to standstill for 2 days. Dahanu got 257 mm rainfall while Lonvala 254 mm, Devgad 241 mm on 22.11.1948 while Matheran got 221 mm and Vade 231 mm on 23.11.1948
Maximum Sustained winds – Colaba 93 km/hr
Gusts –  Colaba – 129 km/hr, Alibag – Gusts 160 km/hr and Juhu  151 km/hr
3. Cyclone Nisarga (2020) – Crossed near Alibag
After almost 50 years a Severe cyclone crossed close to Mumbai with wind speeds excess of 100 km/hr. Nisarga crossed Maharashtra coast close to Alibag as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 100-120 kmph gusting to 130 kmph during noon of 3rd June 2020.
Maximum Sustained winds – Colaba 92 km/hr, Alibag 102 km/hr
4. Cyclone Tauktae (2021) – Expected to cross between Veeraval and Mahua in Gujarat later tonight
Back to Back cyclones for the west coast and this time the landfall area is far from Mumbai but the cyclone eye wall went 100 km from Mumbai city.
Maximum Sustained winds – Colaba 102 km/hr (today)
The wind speed of 114 km/hr recorded today at the weather station based at Afghan Church in south Mumbai’s Colaba area, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) needs to be checked whether it is a 3 min average maximum sustained wind (MSW) or a gust.
12 hrs Rainfall in mm till 5.30 pm in Mumbai
Juhu Airport – 273
Ram Mandir – 228
Santacruz – 194
Colaba – 179
Mira Road – 163
Bandra – 110
Alibagh – 100
Note: wind speeds from monsoon rains and thunderstorms gusts are excluded as they last only few minutes. Cyclone wind speeds sustain for hours.
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Tamil Nadu Rainfall recorded on 02.10.2021

October 2, 2021

Villupuram, Kallakuruchi, Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram belt got heavy rains. In KTC, Katupakkam near Vandalur got 30 mm rainfall.

A Upper Air Circulation lies over southwest Bay of Bengal and extends upto 5.8 km above mean sea level tilting westwards with height.  A trough in easterlies runs from the above cyclonic circulation to interior Maharashtra across Tamilnadu & interior Karnataka in lower tropospheric level. It is likely to persist during next 2-3 days.

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Coolest May for Chennai in last 15 years, lets see the analysis of Chennai Temperature

June 1, 2021

Before going into analysis, lets go to the Chennai climatology for the May month. Chennai average temperature in May is 37 C, normally temp peaks at 1.30 pm and sea breeze comes to save us from scorching heat. The outskirts Chennai peaks at 2.30 to 3.30 pm as sea breeze will take time to move in. Not always we see 40-41+C in Chennai, this happens on two occasions, when a cyclone moves away from TN coast to Bengal or Odisha or Burma, thereby bringing dry winds from North West. In the 2nd case, if the offshore monsoon winds are strong during the month end when monsoon nears and Bay of Bengal branch is active. In this case, the sea breeze will struggle to come in resulting in prolonged heating and peak happening not at 1.30 pm but at 3.30 pm or 4.30 pm.

Top five hottest days in Chennai in May

The hottest days in Chennai have been always associated with Cyclones going to Burma, who can forget the heat waves in 2003 and 1998 in India and not only in Chennai.

45.0 C on 31.05.2003 – Cyclone to Burma
44.1 C on 30.05.1998
43.6 C on 23.05.1980
43.4 C on 12.05.2002
43.2 C on 04.05.1976

Unlike June, May month the humidity is less even though we are a coastal station making less sweating.

Daily May Temperature of Chennai May month in last 15 years.

I have stored the daily temperature of Chennai in last 15 years and 2021 May was so pleasant that Chennai did not even cross 37 C till 26th May and only the Cyclone yaas after moving up to Odisha triggered dry winds. There was prolonged easterlies seen till late may making the temperature of Chennai pleasant this year.


Note: Open the image in separate tab, if the data is not clear.

2021 is Coolest May for Chennai in last 15 years

In 2021, Chennai average May Temperature was 35.94 C and out of the 31 days, 22 days the temperature was below 36 C, this is the highest number of less than 36 C by a huge margin. The number of 40 C days is on par with 2020 with 3 days due to Cyclone Yaas moving away.

While 2018, 2004, 1995 saw 0 days with temperature not crossing even 40 C even 1 day the whole month.

Now we can see the Chennai rainfall is just 40mm average in May and mostly these comes from the once in 6 years Cyclone based rainfall. Chennai has got rainfall in May month in 1990, 1995, 2004, 2010 and last one in 2016. And  for rains to happen in Chennai in May month, the clouds have to come from Sea side and very rarely clouds will manage to reach from west but this year for the 1st time, i have seen 2 rainy days in May month on 21st and 22nd the clouds managed to reach Chennai from west just like in June month.

And i know many will comment, that was lockdown the reason for coolest may, no it is  because of the prolonged easterlies from sea.

And to me, the most horrible month is the June month than May because of delayed sea breeze and higher humidity than May and due to which sweating will be more and so will be the real feel.

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