Finally, some drops of rain respite in Delhi

Delhi experiences relief from heatwave as dark clouds bring rain, lowering temperatures to a 10-day low. Partly cloudy skies to continue through the weekend.

The long and intense spell of heat that had engulfed the city throughout June finally ebbed on Friday as city residents saw a welcome sight in the afternoon – dark grey clouds that brought a brief, but intense, spell of rain.

The minimum temperature dropped to 28.4 degrees Celsius (°C) – the lowest recorded in 10 days, according to IMD data. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

This pleasant change of weather is likely to continue through the weekend, according to new forecasts. India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, who had earlier said the heatwave would be back on June 22, now predicted that the skies will remain partly cloudy till at least Sunday.

The Safdarjung observatory, representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 3.6mm rain.

The minimum temperature dropped to 28.4 degrees Celsius (°C) – the lowest recorded in 10 days, according to IMD data.

The first major burst of rain in the month of June brought much-needed relief to city residents from the soaring day-time mercury. The rain restricted the maximum temperature from soaring too high and locked it at 40.4°C — two degrees above normal and a minor departure from Thursday’s 40°C.

The weather agency said that the intense spell of showers, which lasted around 10-20 minutes in most areas in the city, were not evenly distributed – some other stations recorded much higher rainfall. The highest rain was recorded at the Pitampura station, which received 33.5mm of rainfall, followed by 32mm at Rajghat and 14mm of rainfall at Pusa.

Minimum at a 10-day low

The 11-day streak of heatwave days — recorded in at least one station in the Capital — was snapped on Thursday after a dust storm hit the city on Wednesday night, leading to sparse rain. The maximum at Ridge and Ayanagar stations were 40.9°C and 41°C, respectively.

The minimum temperature also saw a drop from Thursday – falling 1.2 degrees to settle at 28.4°C. Just two days ago, the city had clocked a minimum of 35.2°C — the warmest night recorded in at least 55 years.

“The rainfall on Friday was a continuation of the impact of the western disturbance, which brought strong gusty winds and a cooling effect to Delhi. The westerly winds also reached about 30-40km/hour. It may get warmer over the next two days, but a heatwave will likely not be recorded,” said an IMD official

The Ridge received 6.2mm rainfall, Lodhi Road 3.2mm, and Palam 1.2mm, while Ayanagar recorded ‘trace’ rainfall. In NCR cities, 6mm rainfall was recorded in Gurugram, 1mm in Noida, and 0.5mm in Ghaziabad.

The high-velocity winds also led to some interruptions on the streets as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) reported fallen trees at nine locations, including Karol Bagh, East of Kailash, Mangolpuri, South Moti Bagh, and Tagore Garden Extension, among others. MCD also received waterlogging complaints from 13 spots, including Karol Bagh, Chhattarpur, Shahdara, Najafgarh and Narela.

Cloud relief

According to the IMD forecast for the next few days, partly cloudy skies will persist over the weekend, followed by the possibility of another heatwave spell on Monday and Tuesday. However, the intensity of this spell will be lower compared to the weather experienced throughout June. On Saturday, the maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 41°C and 29°C, respectively.

“The heatwave conditions may only be at isolated places in the city on June 24 and 25, along with partly cloudy skies and strong surface winds. The windy conditions may persist even till the end of next week,” said IMD officials.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index reading was 175 (moderate). It was 176 on Thursday.