22 flights diverted as Delhi hit by rain, wind; more of same expected today

During the same time, Safdarjung, representational of Delhi’s weather, recorded a dip in temperature by 13 degrees – from 33 degrees Celsius (°C) at around 4pm to 20°C at 6pm

The Capital recorded sudden showers accompanied by gusty winds and hail in some areas as a strong thunderstorm hit the national capital region on Thursday evening, leading to the mercury dipping by 10-13 degrees in most places. Between 4pm and 6pm, Delhi reported gusty winds touching 50kmph at Palam, which led to at least 22 flights being diverted from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to nearby airports in Jaipur, Lucknow and Dehradun.

Traffic jam near Akshardham temple due to heavy rain on Thursday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

During the same time, Safdarjung, representational of Delhi’s weather, recorded a dip in temperature by 13 degrees – from 33 degrees Celsius (°C) at around 4pm to 20°C at 6pm, officials said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for the city for Friday, forecasting similar weather with gusty winds, rain and isolated hail in some parts.

IMD issues a yellow alert to warn the public of a weather phenomenon, which it is upgraded to an orange alert if preventive action is required.

The Capital recorded a fairly warm first half of the day, which saw the maximum at Safdarjung touch 33.4°C – one degree above normal. It was 33.6°C on Wednesday. On that day too, thunder clouds formed over Delhi around 3.30pm to 4pm, owing to moisture coming in from the western part of the country.

“We saw thunder clouds form as moisture came in from Rajasthan towards Delhi, owing to a cyclonic circulation. As local temperature was high, this formation of clouds was fairly quick and they moved from west to east Delhi in the matter of an hour. Light to moderate rainfall was recorded during this spell.” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.

Between 8.30am on Wednesday and 8.30am on Thursday, 8.8mm of rainfall was recorded at Safdarjung. While no rainfall was recorded between 8.30am and 3.30pm on Thursday, Safdarjung recorded another 14.5mm of rainfall between 3.30pm and 8.30pm. During this time, Lodhi Road weather station recorded 7.6mm of rainfall, Palam 12.3mm of rainfall. Srivastava says during this spell, Safdarjung reported a top wind speed of 36kmph, while it was 50kmph at Palam.

“A combination of both strong winds and rain led to a sharp drop in temperature--around 10-15 degrees--in most parts of Delhi between 4pm and 6pm. At Palam, a maximum of 31°C was reported at 4pm, but it had dipped to 21°C at 6pm,” he added.

IMD said reports of hail were received from east Delhi. Based on radar images, IMD said some parts of north Delhi also experienced hail.

Delhi’s minimum temperature was meanwhile recorded at 17.8°C on Thursday. Forecast for Friday shows Delhi’s maximum is likely to hover around 27°C, owing to overcast skies and rain, while the minimum will be around 15°C.

An airport official when contacted, said 22 flights were diverted between 4pm and 8.30pm on Thursday, when strong winds hit the airport. Some flights were also delayed due to bad weather. “Strong crosswinds make landing difficult. Out of these 22 flights, eight were diverted to Jaipur, 11 to Lucknow and one each to Dehradun, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh,” the official said. On Wednesday evening, nine flights had to be diverted to Jaipur airport due to similar weather.

Till 8:30pm on Thursday, Delhi had recorded 51.8mm of rainfall in March, which is nearly three times the average normal rainfall mark of 17.4mm, based on its long-period average between 1981 and 2020. Palam had meanwhile recorded 80.8mm in monthly rainfall till 8:30pm. The last time Safdarjung had more rain in Delhi in March was in 2020, when 109.6mm. This is also the all-time record for March rainfall.

However, the spell of rain did not impact Delhi’s air quality too much, which remained in the “moderate” category. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) reading was recorded at 170 (moderate) according to Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin, a slight improvement from 198 (moderate) on Wednesday. Owing to more rain on Friday, Delhi’s air quality is likely to improve to “satisfactory” in the next 24 hours, forecasts show.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to improve and reach the satisfactory category on Friday. The air quality is likely to remain the satisfactory range on Saturday too, before returning to moderate on Sunday. The outlook for subsequent six days shows that the air quality is likely to largely remain in the moderate category,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.

An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.