Mumbai woke up to an unusually cold morning on Wednesday, November 19, with the Santacruz observatory logging a minimum of 16.2°C, about 5°C below normal. The rare break from the city’s trademark humidity came with a catch as a dense veil of smog dulled the relief. This is Mumbai’s coldest November morning in at least a decade. The chill has been building through the month, with night-time temperatures slipping below the seasonal norm since November 9.

As per reports, the previous November minimum in the past decade was 16.3°C on November 11, 2016. The only other instance of temperature nearing this mark was in 2024, when the minimum touched 16.5°C.
The all-time lowest November temperature for Mumbai remains 13.3°C, recorded in 1950.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the current spell is being driven by cold northerly and north-easterly winds sweeping across central and peninsular India. Despite the sharp drop, IMD scientists emphasise that meteorological winter for Mumbai officially falls only in January and February.