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Strongest thunderstorm of the season lashes Delhi, delays several flights
The showers and the sharp winds helped push Delhi’s maximum temperature to an unusually cool maximum temperature of 33.2°C.
Strong winds lashed Delhi early on Saturday, with gusts of 110km/hour tearing through the city in its strongest thunderstorm so far this season, disrupting flight schedules at the airport, uprooting several trees, but also leaving the Capital with a welcome cool day.
The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base weather station, received 15.7mm rain till 8.30am on Sunday, with another 1.8mm till 5.30pm.
The showers and the sharp winds helped push Delhi’s maximum temperature to an unusually cool maximum temperature of 33.2°C, down from 34.9°C a day ago and seven degrees below normal. The minimum temperature, meanwhile, was 19.3°C on Saturday, against 20.5°C on Friday.
Read: Delhi-NCR wakes up to sudden thunderstorm; flight operations impacted
IMD also issued a yellow alert for Sunday and Monday, forecasting light showers in the Capital.
At least six flights were diverted and several delayed, said officials of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
In the rest of the Capital, till 8.30am on Saturday, the Palam station recorded 18.8mm of rain, Lodhi road 17mm, Ridge 33.2mm, Ayanagar 19.8mm, Jafarpur 31mm and Pitampura 30mm.
Much of the showers, said Met officials, were between 6.30am and 8.30am, adding that the clouds gave way to bright sunshine by 10am.
Gurugram, meanwhile, recorded 18mm of rainfall.
“Delhi experienced a moderate to severe thunderstorm this morning, with very strong gusty winds. Data from Palam shows that the storm reached Delhi at around 6am from a westerly, south-westerly direction and the wind speed was 65 km/hr, which touched a top speed of 110 km/hr during the course of the storm,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist at IMD, adding that the top speed was recorded at 6.10am. Safdarjung, meanwhile, reported a top wind speed of 63 km/hr, around the same time.
Read: IMD issues ‘orange alert’ for these states , amid thunderstorm warning in Delhi
An airport official said flights began to be diverted from 6am, with some delays for departing aircraft, as the strong winds presented a safety risk.
“At least six flights were diverted due to bad weather – all of them to Jaipur. The diversions occurred between 6am and 7am,” the official said.
The Met’s forecast for the next three days shows that Delhi is likely to receive more rain, beginning Sunday night
“Light rain is also expected on Monday, with the impact of this western disturbance expected to remain in place till Tuesday, before it weakens completely. May will end on a cool note, with below-normal temperatures,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.
With this spell, Delhi has now received 79.5mm of rainfall in the month, till 5.30pm on Saturday. This is over two times the month’s normal average of 30.7mm. In May 2022, Delhi received 47.7mm of rainfall, while in 2021, it received 144.8mm of rainfall. The all-time rainfall record for May is 165mm in 2008.
Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, was in the moderate category, with an average air quality (AQI) index reading of 110 recorded as per Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4pm on Saturday. It was 98 (satisfactory) at the same time on Friday. Forecasts show that the AQI is likely to stay moderate now till Tuesday.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies an AQI between 0-50 as good, between 51 and 100 as satisfactory, between 101 and 200 as moderate, between 201 and 300 as poor, between 301 and 400 as very poor and over 400 as severe.
