Mumbai, July 19: Mumbai witnessed record-breaking torrential rain, with some places recording more than 270mm of rainfall on Saturday, 17th July 2021. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had been stumped by the thunderstorm as its system did not detect the thunderstorm activity beforehand and the forecast model did not predict the extreme rain.
IMD’s Doppler Radar (a specialized radar that bounces a microwave signal across an object at a distance and analyses its velocity) detected a monster thunderstorm with a cloud height of 60,000 ft (18 km) (a normal thunderstorm is formed at 30,000 – 40,000 ft). It remained undetected on IMD’s system because of its height. A monster thunderstorm is a collection of many thunderstorms.
Experts at IMD believe that monster thunderstorms were formed due to poor circulation of air as negligent upper- level air movement trapped warm air in the upper level and moist air in the lower level.
Source: Twitter@Indiametdept