A tortoise crosses a rain-soaked road in Chembur during the sudden downpour

MUMBAI: For Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) scaled down the weather warning for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region from an orange alert to a yellow alert. So, instead of heavy rainfall, Mumbai, Thane and Palghar can expect light to moderate showers, isolated thunderstorms with lightning, and gusty winds till Tuesday. Raigad district’s red alert was also downgraded to orange. Friday’s downgraded weather forecast follows intense pre-monsoon activity across the Konkan coast and indicates an early onset of the southwest monsoon for the city. Mumbai’s official monsoon onset date is June 11. According to meteorological experts, the weather warning has been downgraded because the system remains too far south to significantly impact Mumbai’s weather, leading to lesser rainfall activity than anticipated on Thursday when an orange alert was issued. However, a well-marked low-pressure area persisted over the east-central Arabian Sea off the south Konkan coast as of Friday 8.30am, and may intensify into a depression within 24 hours, they added.On Friday, no rainfall was recorded in the suburbs, while south Mumbai saw a modest 6.1mm. Relative humidity, however, has been very high owing to the prevailing weather conditions, with the Colaba and Santacruz observatories registering 94% and 88% humidity, respectively. Between March 1 and May 23, IMD’s Colaba observatory has recorded 124mm rainfall and the Santacruz observatory 137.3mm, which were 115mm and 126mm above normal, respectively.