Rain yet to go, but October heat scorches Mumbai

MUMBAI: Even as monsoon lingers on, the temperature here has started soaring and the customary October heat scorching the city.
In its second week this month, the suburbs on Sunday recorded a maximum temperature of 36.5 degree celsius, which was the highest maximum recorded in entire October last year.
The unbearably hot days have, however, been giving way to relatively cool evenings and nights, with the minimum temperature being recorded 25.4 and 22.4 degrees celsius at Colaba and Santa Cruz respectively.But the humidity level in Colaba remained high at 88% and in Santa Cruz at 58%, making the days muggy.
With cyclone Hudhud striking Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts, southwest monsoon continues to hover over Dahanu, Forbesganj, Gaya, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Malegaon among other places. In fact, the rains have been stalled at these places since October 6. Weathermen believe that they would take a few more days to declare the official withdrawal of monsoon.
Though the official date for monsoon leaving the state is September 30, it has been getting extended by a week or two over the past few years. “According to IMD, this year received normal monsoon but the status was better last year, when the entire state got good rainfall,” said an official.