Mumbai: IMD on Friday issued an orange alert for Thane till Sunday and for Mumbai city on Saturday, warning of heavy to very heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places.A red alert warning, however, has been issued for Raigad for Saturday, indicating extremely heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning and strong winds at some places.On Friday, parts of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai experienced rain, with brief but intense spells drenching some southern and central neighbourhoods. Areas like Colaba, Fort and parts of south Mumbai witnessed sudden downpours in the afternoon. In contrast, Dadar, Bandra and Mahim remained largely dry with overcast skies throughout the dayThe weather bureau said the intensity of rain in Mumbai city and Thane is likely to reduce by Sunday, with heavy rainfall at isolated places.

From June 17, only moderate rain is expected in the city.The weather bureau said the southwest monsoon has remained active over south Konkan-Goa and Madhya Maharashtra, which includes Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts. Thunderstorms were reported at isolated locations across north Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada. "Heavy rainfall was recorded at several locations in south Konkan-Goa and at isolated places in north Konkan and south Madhya Maharashtra.

We are expecting parts of north Konkan, which includes Mumbai, to also see increase in rain activity over the weekend," said an IMD official.IMD's Colaba observatory has recorded 102mm of rainfall since June 1 and the Santacruz station 96mm.This year, the southwest monsoon arrived in Mumbai on May 26—the earliest ever for the city since IMD began maintaining records in 1950. It set in Mumbai just two days after monsoon was declared over Kerala and a day after its advance into parts of Maharashtra, up to Devgad.