G20 venue likely to witness light rain; Delhi’s air quality in satisfactory zone

According to the India Meteorological Department’s forecast, cloudy skies will prevail on Saturday with very light to light rain around evening at the G20 venue

Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the G20 Summit, is likely to witness very light to light rain on the first day of the summit scheduled on Saturday, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s forecast.

Bharat Mandapam, the venue for the G20 Summit, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. (PTI)

According to IMD’s forecast, cloudy skies will prevail on Saturday with very light to light rain around evening at the venue. The maximum and minimum temperatures at the venue on Saturday are expected to hover around 35°C-35°C and 25°C -27°C degrees, respectively.

The summit will take place until Sunday. Heads of states and ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) nations are scheduled to arrive in Delhi for the Summit that marks the biggest multilateral event in the city since the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Parts of the Capital also saw light rain on Saturday morning with light rain expected further towards the evening on Saturday. As per IMD data, 9.4 mm of rainfall was recorded at Safdarjung observatory between 2.30am and 5.30am. Palam, meanwhile, recorded 12.1 mm of rain during this period. Mayur Vihar saw 17.5 mm in this duration. Meanwhile, Delhi University recorded 14mm of rain. Weather stations at Pusa and Jafarpur recorded 8mm and 9mm of rain, respectively, between 2.30 and 5.30am.

The weather department classifies rainfall between ‘trace’ and 2.4 mm as ‘very light rainfall’, as ‘light rainfall’ when it is between 2.5 mm and 15.5 mm, as ‘moderate’ rainfall when it is between 15.6 mm and 64.4 mm and as ‘heavy’ when it is over 64.5 mm in a single day.

Some parts of Outer Delhi also saw waterlogging. “Traffic is affected on Rohtak Road in the carriageway from Tikri Border towards Mundka due to waterlogging,” wrote Delhi Traffic Police on X (formerly Twitter).

Meanwhile, the air quality continued in the satisfactory zone on Saturday morning. The city recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 59 at 9am.

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“.

As per the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi-NCR developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology that CAQM relies on for its forecasts, the air quality is likely to remain in the satisfactory category till Sunday.