Pune’s Shivajinagar weather station recorded a minimum temperature of 26.1 degree Celsius Friday, marking the highest June morning temperature since June 9, 2019, when it touched 26.8°C. It is also the sixth-highest minimum temperature recorded at the station since data collection began in 1969.

In other parts of Pune, the minimum temperature was even higher than Shivajinagar’s. Koregaon Park recorded a minimum temperature of 27.3 degree C, Hadapsar 27 degree C and Wadgaonsheri 26.4 degree C. These localities lack historical records and thus do not represent Pune’s temperature readings.

According to Anupam Kashyapi, former head of the Weather Forecasting Division of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, the minimum temperature is likely to remain high due to the partly cloudy skies and high moisture during the day, which allow the solar insolation to strike the earth’s surface, and the clouds that form in the afternoon and evening hours, last throughout the night, trapping the heat.

Stalled monsoon

The current weather patterns in the southern peninsula, including Maharashtra, reflect the monsoon during an El Niño year. “The monsoon has reached Maharashtra, but its strength is not great. After the monsoon strikes the Kerala coast, it usually gains momentum from westerly or southwesterly winds. That is how it starts penetrating from south to north,” Kashyapi said.

“This year, the monsoon current is not strong at present. When we check the Northern Limit of Monsoon on the map that shows the advance of the South-West Monsoon, we see that it has stalled around 200 km away from Pune,” he said.

He added that Pune can expect the monsoon around June 13 or 14.

Kashyapi pointed to three factors contributing to the stalled monsoon: a western disturbance and associated Upper Air Circulation, as well as a trough extending from Haryana to the North East Arabian Sea, which prevents the northward movement of the monsoon current.

“Within 24 hours, the western disturbance is likely to move eastward. This is likely to disrupt monsoon flow in the eastern region as well. Places like Pune and Mumbai are likely to get rain with thunder and lightning,” he said.