After a scorching start to the week, with temperatures touching 40 degrees in Mumbai, the city is expected to get slight relief from Wednesday as the mercury is likely to dip, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Weather officials said the decline in temperature will be gradual, offering some respite after the unusually intense early-March heat.

On Tuesday, the maximum temperature recorded by the IMD Santacruz observatory was 40°C, which was 7.6°C above normal, while the IMD Colaba observatory recorded 35.4°C, which was 4.3°C above normal. The IMD on Tuesday afternoon issued an orange alert for Mumbai and the entire MMR, including, Thane and Palghar, predicting heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in isolated pockets.