Light rainfall expected in Delhi today and tomorrow; visibility woes return

This is due to a western disturbance that is beginning to influence large parts of northwest India, including the plains, an IMD official said

Dense fog engulfed parts of Delhi on Tuesday morning, with visibility dipping to 50m at Palam, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted drizzles and ‘very light’ rainfall in isolated parts of the National Capital Region due to approaching western disturbances. Light precipitation is expected on Wednesday as well, the weathermen said.

Haze around Rashtrapati Bhavan due to fog in New Delhi. (ANI Photo)

Visibility was around 800m at Palam at 5.30am but dropped sharply to 150m around 6.30am. By 7am, this was down to 50m, before gradually improving to over 200m over the next two hours, an IMD official said.

“This is due to a western disturbance that is beginning to influence large parts of northwest India, including the plains. There is a possibility of drizzles to very light rainfall in Delhi today,” the IMD official said.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 8.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, two notches below normal, but a degree higher than Monday’s minimum of 7.3 degrees Celsius.

The maximum on Monday was 23.7 degrees Celsius and forecasts show the maximum will continue to hover around 23-24 degrees Celsius over the next two days.

Meanwhile, the air quality deteriorated further on Tuesday, largely due to calm windy conditions. Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) stood at 324 at 9am on Tuesday as compared to 301 (very poor) at 4pm on Monday.