Rain, overcast skies keep Delhi cool, yellow alert in place for Tuesday

Forecasts show that Delhi is likely to record a maximum of 34°C on Tuesday, while the minimum will hover around the 26-degree mark.

Parts of the Capital recorded very light rain on Monday, which along with overcast skies kept Delhi cool for the second day in a row, with a maximum temperature of 33.2 degrees Celsius (°C) — around four degrees above Sunday high, but four notches below the normal for this time of the year.

People enjoy a cloudy evening near India Gate lawns, in New Delhi on Monday. (Raj K Raj/HT)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast showers across the National Capital Region in the coming days, with a yellow alert in place for Tuesday.

The overcast skies also meant high humidity, which oscillated between 69% and 98%.

Delhi’s minimum, meanwhile, stood at 25.4°C, which is three degrees below normal. It was 23.1°C a day earlier.

The IMD on Sunday had declared the onset of the southwest monsoon in the Capital — two days ahead of time, and the first time since June 21, 1961 that the onset of the monsoon was declared in Delhi and Mumbai on the same day.

In the 24 hours till 8.30am on Monday, the Safdarjung observatory, which is representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 2.4mm of rainfall, with no rain being recorded in the next nine hours, data till 5.30 pm showed. However, other parts of the city logged rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Monday, with the station at Palam recording 1.4mm of rainfall, Ayanagar (0.6mm), Najafgarh (2mm) and Sports Complex (0.5mm). Gurugram, meanwhile, recorded 9.5mm rainfall till 8.30am on Monday, with no data available post that, Met officials said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, said, “The monsoon trough is currently passing through northwest Rajasthan, south Haryana and south Uttar Pradesh. It is expected to remain south of Delhi on Tuesday too, but light to moderate showers are expected in NCR in association with this, with the most intense spells likely in Madhya Pradesh and northeast Rajasthan.”

Forecasts show that Delhi is likely to record a maximum of 34°C on Tuesday, while the minimum will hover around the 26-degree mark.

Srivastava said there are chances of the intensity of rain reducing on Wednesday, but light showers are predicted in parts of the Capital till Friday.

Delhi’s pollution levels, meanwhile, remained in the satisfactory zone for a second straight day on Monday, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 93, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4pm on Monday — a slight increase from the 71 a day earlier.

The AQI is forecast to remain in the satisfactory zone till Thursday.

The 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.