🛕 Mumbai Weather

A city ruled by the monsoon

No weather event matters more to Mumbai than the arrival of the southwest monsoon. India's coastal megacity has a tropical climate with modest temperature changes but dramatic swings in rainfall — a long dry stretch broken by a few months of some of the heaviest rain on the planet. When the monsoon breaks in June, the whole city feels the relief and the risk at once.

The monsoon deluge

From June through September, the monsoon unloads the vast majority of Mumbai's enormous annual rainfall, often in torrential bursts that flood low-lying streets and rail lines and bring the city to a standstill. The July 2005 deluge, which dropped nearly 37 inches (940 mm) in a single day, remains the benchmark for monsoon catastrophe.

Hot, humid build-up and mild winters

Before the rains, the pre-monsoon months of April and May are hot and oppressively humid, with highs around 91°F (33°C) and stifling coastal moisture. The "winter," from December to February, is the most pleasant season — warm, dry, and comfortable, with highs in the low 90s°F (around 32°C) but far lower humidity.

Mumbai is extremely wet during the monsoon, averaging around 95 inches (2,410 mm) of rain a year, almost all of it in those four months. The rest of the year sees barely a drop, making the city's calendar essentially a story of before, during, and after the rains.

Life ruled by the monsoon

Mumbai's tropical climate revolves entirely around the southwest monsoon. From June to September, torrential rains sweep in off the Arabian Sea and dump the vast majority of the year's precipitation — often over 80 inches (2,000 mm) — regularly flooding the low-lying coastal megacity and bringing life to a standstill on the worst days.

Outside the monsoon, the year is hot and humid, with a slightly cooler, drier, and more pleasant stretch from November to February that marks the best time to visit. The sea moderates the temperature so it rarely swings far, but the pre-monsoon humidity of April and May can feel oppressive as the city waits for the rains to break.