Mumbai witnesses first rain of the season accompanied by massive dust storm; WATCH dramatic videos

Mumbai witnessed the first heavy rains with an unexpected dust storm on Monday (May 13) afternoon. The weather department has issued a yellow alert for Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra.

Heavy rains, dust storms, lightning, strong winds, and thunder, brought relief from the intense heat in Mumbai, Thane, and nearby regions on Monday afternoon. The city also witnessed a massive duststorm which turned the sky dark. According to the latest update from the weather office, thunderstorms, along with lightning and moderate to heavy rainfall, accompanied by gusty winds reaching speeds of 50-60 km/hr, are highly probable at isolated locations in the Palghar and Thane districts within the next 3-4 hours.

The Regional Meteorological Center has issued a yellow alert for the Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. An orange alert has been issued for the Pune, Satara, Sangli, Nashik, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna and Parbhani districts in Maharashtra.

The abrupt weather shift caused traffic to halt as commuters sought shelter during the storm. Strong winds and rainfall were observed in the Ghatkopar, Bandra Kurla, and Dharavi areas of Mumbai. Reports indicated that landing and takeoff operations at Mumbai Airport, one of the busiest in the country, were halted for 30 minutes due to the significant dust storm.

"Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning, gusty winds (50-60 kmph, hail are very likely at isolated places," said the weather forecast.

Many users of X platform took to the microblogging sites to post images and videos capturing the rain and dusty winds.