Delhi set for light to moderate rain till Friday, IMD issues yellow alert

Delhi is set for light to moderate rainfall and a yellow alert on Friday, with improving air quality and rising temperatures forecasted.

New Delhi

A smoggy morning, as Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.7°C. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted light to moderate rainfall in Delhi over the next few days and issued a yellow alert for Friday, even as the air quality index (AQI) continued to improve on Wednesday.

Officials said that a western disturbance is likely to cause multiple spells of light to moderate spells of continuous rainfall throughout Friday.

“Generally cloudy skies are expected to persist on Thursday and Friday. One or two spells of light rain, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds of speed 30-40 kmph are likely to occur during the early to forenoon hours on Friday. Another spell of very light to light rain is likely towards the afternoon and evening,” an IMD official said.

IMD has predicted the influence of another consecutive western disturbance over northwest India from January 26 to 28, which, it said, is likely to lead to an increase in the minimum temperature.

Delhi clocked a minimum temperature of 7.7 degrees Celsius (°C) on Wednesday—0.2°C above normal—and it is likely to increase to around 12-14°C on Friday, before dipping to 6-8°C by Saturday, according to the IMD.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, a private forecaster, said, “Cloudy skies lead to an increase in the minimum and a decrease in the maximum temperature. This is because lesser heat can penetrate and reach the ground level during the day and likewise, lesser heat can escape the earth’s surface at night.”

Delhi clocked a maximum temperature of 24.2°C on the day, which was 3.9°C above normal. It is likely to fall to 19-21°C by Friday, as per the IMD.

Pollution

Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was 330 (“very poor”) at 4pm on Wednesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily national bulletin, an improvement from an AQI of 378 recorded the day before. It was in the “severe” zone prior to that.

This also comes a day after the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas revoked Stage-4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap). An official confirmed on Wednesday that Stage-3 of Grap will, meanwhile, continue to remain in place as a precautionary measure.

Forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi suggest that the AQI is likely to improve further over the next few days.

“The air quality is likely to be in the very poor category on Thursday. The air quality is likely to be in the poor category from Friday to Saturday. The outlook for the subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the poor to very poor category,” the AQEWS bulletin on Wednesday evening read.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, said, “The wind speed remained around 10-11 kmph throughout Wednesday, with the speed sometimes increasing to 13-14 kmph. That further helped dissipate pollutants and improve the AQI reading.”