Mumbai spent Friday under a heatwave alert, six days after the monsoon left it.
The Santacruz observatory recorded a maximum of 37.8°C, which was 4.7°C above normal and the second-highest reading in Maharashtra for the day. Malegaon and Jalgaon topped the state at 38.5°C. The minimum was 25.8°C, 0.9°C above normal.
The India Meteorological Department sounded the alert for the districts of Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri, the city's first post-monsoon heatwave.
High temperatures have persisted since the southwest monsoon withdrew. Withdrawal from Mumbai was declared on 3 October this year, five days earlier than the normal date.
No heatwave warning has been issued for the weekend. The department nonetheless expects "heatwave-like" conditions to prevail on Saturday, with the maximum temperature expected to be around 38°C.
Its local forecast for the city and suburbs over the next 48 hours gives clear skies with "Hot Day Conditions" very likely, and maximum and minimum temperatures of around 36°C and 26°C.
Air quality has deteriorated as well, with the change in the weather and the resumption of construction work after the monsoon. Central Pollution Control Board data put Friday's poorest readings at Deonar on 152, Worli on 140, Bhandup West on 131, Mazgaon on 123 and Malad West on 122.
The weekend forecast contains two temperatures, and they are not the same temperature.
Friday was a heatwave and reached 37.8°C. Saturday is not a heatwave and is expected to reach around 38°C. Saturday is therefore forecast to be warmer than the heatwave while not being one.
This newspaper does not regard that as a contradiction. A heatwave, in the operational sense that matters, is a thing the India Meteorological Department issues. Friday had one issued for it. Saturday does not. The temperature is a separate matter and has no vote.
The same bulletin offers a third figure. The 48-hour local forecast for the city and suburbs gives a maximum of around 36°C, which means Mumbai is expecting 38°C under one heading and 36°C under another, and Hot Day Conditions under a third.
Our analysts at the Department of Unnecessary Research have catalogued the available states. There is a heatwave. There are heatwave-like conditions. There are Hot Day Conditions. Only the first has to be declared, and only the first can be called off.
The sequence is the tidy part. The monsoon was declared withdrawn on 3 October, five days ahead of schedule. The first post-monsoon heatwave was alerted on 9 October. Between the two declarations the city was granted five days of nothing in particular, and did not use them.
Saturday will be hotter than Friday's heatwave and will not be a heatwave, because nobody has issued it one.