On Tuesday night if finally rained in Mumbai for the first time since I arrived on February 1.  Since then it rained Wednesday night and tonight.  For the last few weeks it has been getting more humid, windy and cloudy.  The winds of change were evident and it was only a matter of time before the skies would finally open up.

The rain represents the start of Monsoon season.  It will now rain almost every day for the next 4 months.  At that point Winter will set in and it will rarely rain until the next Monsoon 8 months later.  Here is a graph of the average rainfall from weather.com.  It is a incredible annual cycle of feast or famine.  Based on soil samples, scientists have traced the beginning of this weather pattern to 15-20 million years ago.

The most infamous Monsoon day in Mumbai is July 26, 2005.  It rained 37 inches in one day.  I find this almost impossible to comprehend.  Over 3 feet of rain in one day.  On average the Minneapolis, Minnesota receives 29.5 inches of precipitation for an entire year.  The most tragic aspect of this event was that more than 400 Mumbaikers died as a result of the rain.