mumbai lack of automatic weather stations is a major disadvantage for navi mumbai where 13 people died due to sunstroke after attending the maharashtra bhushan award event on an open ground at kharghar on sunday afternoon said independent meteorologists the india meteorological department imd had forecast that day temperatures in kharghar could reach 3435 degrees celsius based on data from its santacruz observatory 34 degrees celsius in mumbai located 35km away officials said the thanebelapur industrial association observatory in rabale was the other nearest weather station which recorded day temperatures of 38 degrees c on sunday set up in 2017 this is a fairly new observatory and we need at least one decade of data to ascertain the departure for the location all our other observatories were showing normal departures hence not qualifying for a heatwave condition said sushma nair scientist imd mumbai abhijit modak an amateur forecaster who runs konkan weather blog said colaba and santacruz weather stations are located closer to the sea and do not depict the correct picture of the higher temperatures observed in the interiors during peak summers also the day temperatures recorded are in the air while the spectators at the event were closer to the ground where the heat may have been higher he saidheat index which is a combination of various factors such as land temperature humidity wind circulation and green cover has to be locally measured said professor mahaveer golechha of indian institute of public health gujarat the perceived temperature would be much more than 38 degrees c as reported by imd the higher temperature led to excessive sweating followed by severe dehydration responsible for the heatstroke related mortalityannouncements about drinking more water at rallies are important for preventing such disasters rajesh kapadia who runs private weather forecasting blog vagaries of the weather said the attendees were under the direct sun for more than five hours so the real feel of the heat would be higher when coupled with high humidity levels he said the relative humidity recorded by the rabale observatory was 47some experts suggested that the organizers of social cultural or political gatherings should keep in mind the timings of outdoor events in summers its time we adapt to the changing climatic conditions said abhiyant tiwari lead health climate resilience at national resource defence council india which seeks to advance national and global climate goals through communitybased solutions inputs by hemali chhapia