Warm, sultry day before rain cools down Capital

Delhi witnessed light rains and winds on Saturday due to western disturbances from Jammu and Kashmir. The overcast weather did not bring down the temperature, which remained high at 39.2°C. The rain and wind conditions, however, kept the city's pollution levels moderate. Light rains are likely to continue till Monday, followed by partly cloudy skies for the rest of the week. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be around 38 and 26°C, respectively, on Sunday.

Delhi woke up to a cloudy and clammy Saturday morning, eventually witnessing winds and light rains in the evening in some parts of the city even as cyclone Biparjoy started weakening.

New Delhi, India - June 17, 2023: Commuters out in the rain at connaught place area in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, June 17, 2023. (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times) (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Brief spells of rain were also recorded in parts of Noida and Gurugram. Weather officials said that light rains are likely to continue till Monday.

The overcast weather, however, did not do much to do bring down the mercury, as Safdarjung, representative of Delhi weather, recorded a maximum temperature of 39.2°C. On Friday, it stood at 38.6°C. Increased humidity also made it feel like hotter than it was with a heat index of 46°C.

“There was drizzle and light rainfall in parts of south and northwest Delhi as well as NCR cities... Light rain and winds are likely to continue till Monday,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, regional director, Indian Meteorological Department.

In the 24-hour period till 8:30 am, Safdarjung received 6.8mm of rainfall. However, in the next nine hours till 5.30pm, there was no rainfall recorded at any of the stations across Delhi. In NCR too, Noida and Ghaziabad recorded 00mm rainfall as the spell were brief and light, officials said.

HI, colloquially known as “real feel”, is a calculation that represents how warm it feels to a person in the shade. It is calculated using relative humidity and air temperature at a given time. At 2.30pm on Saturday, Delhi recorded a relative humidity of 47% and a thermometric maximum of 37.8°C.

The minimum temperature at Safdarjung was recorded at 29.6°C. Of all the weather stations in Delhi, the highest maximum temperature was logged at 40.5°C at Pitampura, while the lowest minimum was recorded in Palam at 25.2°C.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 38 and 26°C , respectively, on Sunday, according to IMD.

According to officials, generally cloudy sky with light rain and thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds of speed 35-45kmph are also over the next two days. They said that the light rain is due to western disturbances from Jammu and Kashmir as most of the cyclonic impact from Arabian sea has abated and it is only contributing to the wind now.

Tuesday onwards, the city will see partly cloudy skies for the rest of the week.

Saturday’s rains led to uprooting of a banyan tree near Okhla mandi due to which a car and two motorcycles were damaged. Traffic officials said that while it led to traffic congestion for about half an hour, it was cleared soon.

Meanwhile, the rain and windy conditions kept the city’s pollution levels moderate with an air quality index of 119 on Saturday, according to CPCB’s national bulletin at 4pm. It was the same on Friday.

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.