Brace for the heat today; it might touch 37°C

The city temperature will hover around 37°C today, the Met department predicted on Monday.

That will be a rise by about 4°C. The earlier half of Monday saw the maximum temperature at 33°C and minimum at 25°C. Humidity was around 47-49%, which forced people to cut down on Holi celebrations.

"Most people chose to celebrate a dry Holi. That is good but the heat was unbearable," Sahej Mantri, a Thane resident, said. The skies were cloudy and the northern parts of the city saw light drizzle.

VK Rajiv, IMD director, Mumbai, said it tends to get hot during March. "It is mainly due to the change in wind direction. Dry winds from the east are blowing instead of moisture-laden winds from the west," he said.

March and April have seen some of the hottest days in the past 50 years. March 16, 2011, saw the maximum temperature touch 41.3°C.

Also, there have been wide variations in temperature between Mumbai and the rest of interior Maharahstra. While summer has almost set in the ciy, places like Baramati and Jalgaon have seen hailstorms recently. And Met people term it uncommon.

"Hailstorms usually occur towards the end of winter in about two or three places; but this time, it was widespread, with an unprecedented intensity," NY Apte, former director general of IMD, Mumbai, said.