In Pictures: Thick fog cover engulfs parts of Mumbai, air quality worsens

A thick cover of fog engulfed parts of Western and Central Mumbai, for the second time this week, on Saturday morning.

A similar cover had enveloped the twin cities of Kalyan-Dombivali on Thursday, delaying trains running on the Central line.

Mumbaikars woke up to a foggy morning on Saturday as parts of Mumbai metropolitan region, extending all the way till Navi Mumbai and Thane, were covered in dense fog.

Areas like Dadar, Sion, Wadala, Bandra, BKC, Andheri, Goregaon, Navi Mumbai, Belapur and Kalyan among others witnessed foggy weather conditions from as early as 5 am today. The fog cover also led to low visibility in the affected areas.

While many people likened the fog to smog, similar to the one wreaking havoc in the national capital, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not made any such distinction till now.

Trains running late:

Like Thursday, trains on the Central line were delayed due to low visibility. As of 9 am, trains were running late on average by 30-40 minutes.

Commuters at Vasind station had also staged a rail roko around 7 am today after a local train arrived almost 45 minutes late, following which CR urged passengers to not resort to unlawful means and delay operations further.

“Due to heavy fog, trains are running around 30-40 minutes late. Sincere appeal to commuters not to resort to unlawful means of rail roko. This will further delay the train operations, inconveniencing all,” a Central Railway spokesperson was quoted saying.

The visibility was especially bad after Kalyan.

Traffic movement affected:

The low visibility on the roads has also affected the movement of traffic on the Western and Eastern express highways, with both experiencing more snarls than usual. According to one source, Borivali-Dahisar Link Road also witnessed a huge jam earlier today.

Although no fog-related incidents have been reported till now, authorities have asked motorists to careful while driving or riding in such weather conditions.

“As long as similar weather conditions prevail, motorists should be extra careful while driving as low visibility could hamper their judgment and lead to untoward incidents,” a senior BMC official told Local Press Co.

Air Quality worsens:

Mumbai’s air quality also worsened today morning according to System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) data.

Over the last 48 hours, the air quality index (AQI), the pollutant measuring indicator, for the city had been hovering between ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ with PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels staying close to 150 and 90.

However, the PM 2.5 levels rose significantly today morning. According to SAFAR data, Bandra, Andheri, and Navi Mumbai recorded ‘very poor’ AQI today as they saw a huge spike in PM 2.5 levels. The PM 2.5 levels for all three areas was over 300.

In comparison, the AQI was ‘poor’ in Borivali, Mazagaon and Colaba and ‘moderate’ in Worli, Chembur, Malad, and Bhandup.

Weather forecast:

Despite the fog cover, Mumbai is expected to remain warm and humid today. According to Skymet, clear skies will prevail throughout the day, with minimum and maximum temperatures hovering around 19 and 31 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the temperature has increased and humidity has fallen. Since 6 am to 10 am, the mercury levels have risen from 25 to 28 degrees, while humidity has fallen from 89 to 74 percent.

The temperature is expected to remain between 31 and 21 degrees next week, except on Wednesday when it will be cooler by 2 degrees.