Min temp in Delhi jumps by 5.4°C, mild weather ahead for Capital

Delhi experienced light rain and strong winds as a western disturbance improved air quality; temperatures are forecasted to remain mild in coming days.

The Capital recorded patchy light rain on Sunday accompanied by strong winds as a western disturbance began to influence the region, raising minimum temperature and helping air quality improve marginally.

Dark clouds seen along with light rains at Connaught Place in New Delhi on Sunday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast fairly mild weather ahead, with a fresh western disturbance expected to influence northwest India between February 5-7 – preventing a dip in minimum temperatures. Similar scattered very light rain is also likely over the coming weekend, experts said.

On Sunday, Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 265 (poor) at 4 pm – down from a reading of 315 (very poor) at the same time on Saturday. AQI is forecast to stay in the “poor” category till at least February 10, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) forecast for Delhi.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature rose to 12.1 degrees Celsius (°C) — four degrees above normal for this time of the year. It was 6.7°C a day earlier. Forecasts show the minimum may touch 7-9°C by Friday, before rising by 1-2°C again over the weekend following another western disturbance.

The maximum temperature stood at 24.6°C — two degrees above normal. It will dip to 18°C by Friday before rising marginally and hovering around 19-21°C, the IMD forecast said.

IMD data till 8:30 am showed Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, logged ‘trace’ rainfall, same as Palam. Lodhi Road logged 0.2 mm and Ridge 0.6 mm of rain. No rain was recorded after 8:30 am.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet said Delhi-NCR only recorded patchy showers as this western disturbance was not as active as the previous two. On January 27, the Capital recorded 4.2 mm of rain during the second active western disturbance in January. Prior to that, Delhi had seen nearly 19.8 mm of rain between January 23 and 24.

“We only saw one spell of light rain in the early hours, with clouds moving further southeast towards Madhya Pradesh. No further rain is likely in the coming days and another feeble western disturbance is expected between February 5 and 7. There are chances of scattered light rain, but no significant spells again,” said Palawat, adding that a sharp dip in temperature is also unlikely now.

“We will not see the kind of minimum temperature we saw in mid January, when northwesterly winds persisted for close to 10 days,” he added.