Dry run may come to a stop, Delhi likely to get rain over weekend: IMD

The forecast also said that isolated showers and thunderstorms are very likely over Delhi on Saturday, with fairly widespread rainfall between Sunday and Monday.

The heat and humidity are unlikely to relent on Saturday, the weather office said, even as it said that some rain was expected at night, with widespread showers likely on Sunday.

A downpour in New Delhi. (HT File Photo)

According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast on Friday, the maximum temperature on Saturday is expected to hover around 37°C.

The forecast also said that isolated showers and thunderstorms are very likely over Delhi on Saturday, with fairly widespread rainfall between Sunday and Monday.

To be sure, the weather office has issued a string of false rain alarms over the past week, first issuing a yellow alert for rain, upgrading it to an orange, then shifting this alert by a day, before again downgrading it back to yellow on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s weather stayed hot and sticky on Friday. IMD’s Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 39°C, two degrees above the normal temperature for this time of the year and 0.1 degrees higher than Thursday’s temperature.

The minimum temperature on Saturday stood at 29.2°C, one degree above the normal temperature.

With a temperature of 37.8°C and relative humidity of 51% at 2.30pm on Friday, Safdarjung recorded a heat index reading of 49°C, no different from Thursday and Wednesday. This number, an indication of the discomfort levels and also known as the ‘real feel’ was at 48°C on Tuesday.

The air quality on Friday stayed in the “satisfactory” category with an air quality (AQI) reading of 94. An AQI 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“.

The Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) on Friday said that the air quality is expected to continue in the satisfactory category till Monday on account of high wind speed and subsequent moderate dispersion.

“For the next three days (Saturday-Monday) peak wind speed is likely to be 15-18 km/h causing moderate dispersion and AQI is likely to be within ‘satisfactory’ due to expected light/trace rain spells.