Grey afternoon in B'luru? It's common in May, says Met

Did Monday (May 8) afternoon appear unusually grey or yellow after the downpour? For over an hour from 3.45 pm, it felt like dusk had set in sooner in Bengaluru.

A Prasad, scientist at IMD Bengaluru, attributed it to a combination of clouds covering more than 75% of the sky at a low altitude of about 300 to 400 m and a build-up of cumulonimbus clouds overhead at about 600 m. “It turned cloudy at 2.30 pm and was overcast from 3.30 pm till 10 pm,” Prasad says.

But he shares that such overcast afternoon skies are a common occurrence in Bengaluru during the month of May and result from the convective rains. In peak summer, the land is heated up, which forms water vapour that condenses as it rises.

“On Monday, the triggering mechanism was due to the trough extending from low-pressure areas off the Tamil Nadu coast up to mid-tropospheric levels,” he explains.