Touted as India's Financial Capital, Mumbai recorded its hottest December ever with 37.3°C this year. As per last year's records, the temperature in Delhi in December was recorded as 23°C. Retrospectively last year the temperature in Delhi in December was recorded as 23°C and 33°C in the city of Mumbai. While this year the temperature is showing an increase of 7 degrees from the last year breaking all records and making it the hottest December in the last 16 years.
There are multiple reasons attributed to a combination of factors, including global climate patterns, local weather anomalies, and broader environmental changes. The other scientific reasons can be listed as-
Climate change
The rising Global temperatures Due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels deforestation and industrial activities are leading to more street and erratic weather patterns this means that even in traditionally cooler months like December regions like Mumbai can experience more higher temperatures.
Heat retention is another major reason. As the Earth's atmosphere traps more heat regions near the equator such as Mumbai can experience prolonged periods of warmth even during the winter season which can cause higher temperatures and persistent humidity.
Urban Heat Island Effect
Under this effect, the urbanized areas are considered heat islands that experience higher temperatures than the outlying ones. Due to the Urban Heat Island Effect the rising temperature exeberates. Especially in the case of Mumbai because of rapid urbanization, it makes the city a densely populated urban center with large-scale construction concrete surface and limited green spaces this creates the ‘urban heat island effect’. This tends to be significantly warmer than the surrounding rural areas. Building roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb heat during the day and release it slowly at night making the city warmer than the surrounding areas even in the winter months.
EI Nino effect
This stands for a climatic pattern, generally warm in nature that occurs on the ocean surface in the coastal and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean which adversely affects the weather globally. This effect causes drier winters in the northern region and warmer winters in the southern region. In India, this effect causes lower than the average rainfall which again contributes to the higher temperatures.
Reduced winds or changes in Air Circulation
Also, a significant reason is seasonal shifts in atmospheric pressure systems and wind circulation affect Mumbai’s weather on the condition if there is a reduction in the normal winds from the northeastern Cooler and dry or if the air circulation is this the temperature will drop as expected in December.
Changes to Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)
Ocean Dipole is another climate-driven that can influence the monsoon and overall weather patterns in the Indian subcontinent. A positive IOD means when the western part of the Indian Ocean is warmer than the eastern part leads to dryer warmer winters in coastal areas like Mumbai.