Sultry Mumbai Summer

Mumbai Summer : The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Here are some of the international weather news headlines during the recent months :

“Global temperatures to continue breaking records.....”

“World heading towards new temperature records, UN weather watchdog warns”

“What to know as climate records keep getting shattered | AP News”

“Heat Records Broken Across Earth ~ The New York Times”

“Heat Records Are Broken Around the Globe as Earth Warms Fast. From north to south, temperatures are surging as greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere and combine with effects from El Niño. ~ The New York Times”

Extreme heat and humidity affect your health. Failure to adjust to heat can be fatal.

Mumbai is the Indian Metropolis where Bollywood was born. Bollywood is the nickname for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India. Bollywood is Indian Hollywood, refers to the Hindi language movie industry in India.

Dubbed the “City of Dreams” thanks to its endless opportunities, Mumbai is the richest city in India and the center of the country’s financial and film industries. It’s a microcosm of India and yet it is something entirely new: chaotic, colorful, and jam-packed with people from all over the country and the world.

Originally a small fishing community, today it’s a city of more than 20 million people, where the dichotomy of India is on full display. Million-dollar apartments look onto and across the slums, while street vendors and hawkers operate from merely a few yards distant from the fancy hotels.

Between its beaches, skyline, food, and people, though, it’s impossible to not fall in love with Mumbai. There is a story on every inch of pavement, every stretch of sky, and whatever falls between them. As the saying goes, “Once you have lived in Mumbai, no other city is good enough.”

In Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the capital of the state of Maharashtra in India, the climate is tropical, hot all year round, with a long, sunny season from early or mid-October to early June and a rainy season from June to September or early October. The latter is due to the south-west monsoon and is characterized by sultry stuffy weather, cloud cover and frequent rains, which occur almost every day and are sometimes torrential.

In the pre-monsoon period, from March to May, the heat becomes intense, in fact, the temperature can sometimes reach 38/40 °C (100/104 °F); this partly happens also in the period after the monsoon, in October and November, when it can reach 36/38 °C (97/100 °F).

In winter, from December to February, the weather is normally hot and sunny. During the day, it gets sometimes very hot, in fact, the temperature can reach 35/36 °C (95/97 °F), while at night, it normally returns below 20 °C (68 °F), and from time to time, it can even drop below 15 °C (59 °F): it is better to wear a sweatshirt for safety.

The monsoon in Mumbai lasts from June to early October and is definitely intense, since the wet currents come directly from the sea: in July, up to 710 millimeters (28 inches) of rain fall. In July and August, the sky is almost always cloudy, and relative humidity is very high, although the sea breeze gives a bit of relief. In Mumbai, precipitation amounts to about 2,200 mm (86 in) per year.

The sun in Mumbai regularly shines in the dry season, while in the rainy season, the sky is often cloudy, especially in July and August.

Mumbai is in the path of tropical cyclones. Typically, cyclones occur from April to December, with two peaks at the beginning and end of the period (April-June and October-December). For a few decades before 2020, cyclones have spared Mumbai, passing to the north or the south, however, recently the city was directly affected by Cyclone Nisarga in early June 2020 and Cyclone Tauktae in mid-May 2021. In any case, even when they pass a certain distance, cyclones can bring heavy rainfall, as happened with Cyclone Phyan in November 2009 and with Cyclone Ockhi in early December 2017.

The best months to visit Mumbai are January and February. In November and December, the rains have usually ceased, but a cyclone can sometimes affect this area. In March, it starts to get very hot.

So in this List, let’s explore the ways how inhabitants of this city cope with Mumbai’s sultry summer weather.