Light rain, strong winds in city, pollution abates a bit

Delhi residents on Thursday woke up to light rain, followed by thunderstorm and strong winds in many parts of the national capital

Delhi residents on Thursday woke up to light rain, followed by thunderstorm and strong winds in many parts of the national capital. The swift winds proved a blessing as they helped reduce the overall pollution levels.

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India Meteorological Department (IMD) recordings show that the Safdarjung weather station, which is considered the official marker for the city, received 0.5mm of rain till 5.30pm Thursday. The Palam observatory received 2.6mm rain, while Lodi Road received 0.1mm till 5.30pm.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said apart from light rain, many parts also saw thunderstorms in the evening. He said under the influence of a passing western disturbance, the temperatures also increased in the region. At the Safdarjung observatory, the minimum temperature on Thursday was 12.4 degrees Celsius, which was four degrees above the season’s normal. The maximum temperature was 23.2 degrees Celsius.

“Generally, during the passage of a western disturbance, temperatures tend to increase. From tomorrow (Friday), the mercury will start falling once again. But there will not be a drastic fall. The minimum temperature will remain around 7-8 degrees Celsius,” Srivastava said.

Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), forecast said the air quality in Delhi will continue to improve over the weekend.

“AQI is likely to further improve to the “poor” category tomorrow (Friday). May even touch moderate for a shorter period. The improved AQI is likely to stay for a couple of days; “poor” AQI is forecasted February 6 and February 7,” Safar said.