Noon sun in vanishing act, short rain spells till July 20 in Delhi: IMD

IMD has no colour-coded alerts in place till July 20, with very light to light rain likely till then, officials said

Delhi recorded scattered light rain on Monday, with isolated parts recording short but intense spells towards the evening. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast patchy light showers to continue this coming week, with the monsoon not expected to be active in the National Capital Region.

Clouds above Kirti Nagar on Monday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

IMD has no colour-coded alerts in place till July 20, with very light to light rain likely till then, officials said.

“The monsoon trough is south of Delhi, but there is a western disturbance and a low pressure area, which is bringing some moisture. Light rainfall is expected to continue in Delhi this week, with some isolated parts recording short but intense rain,” said an IMD official.

On Monday, the monsoon trough was passing through Bikaner and the centre of a well marked low-pressure area over northeast Rajasthan, northwest Madhya Pradesh and Siddhi.

Patchy spells of light rain were also seen in the early hours of the day. In the 24 hours till 8.30am, Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station, received 15.8mm rain, Palam 8.5mm, Lodhi Road 18.5mm, Ridge 0.4mm and Ayanagar 15.5mm, data showed.

Between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Monday, Safdarjung and Palam saw “trace” rainfall, Rajghat 0.1mm and Mayur Vihar 1mm, with overcast skies during the day.

So far, Delhi has received 88.2mm in monthly rainfall. Normally, Delhi records 209.7mm rainfall in July.

On Monday, Delhi’s maximum temperature was 33.6 degrees Celsius (°C), two degrees below the normal. The minimum was 23.6°C, four degrees below normal. Overcast conditions are expected on Tuesday, too, with the maximum hovering between 32°C and 34°C, and the minimum between 24°C and 26°C, IMD said.

Delhi’s air quality improved further, dipping to the lower end of the “satisfactory” category. Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 59 at 4pm on Monday – an improvement over Sunday’s 79. A streak of 16 “satisfactory” AQI days was broken on Saturday when AQI touched 105 (moderate).

Forecasts by the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi (AQEWS) said that the rain is likely to keep Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the “satisfactory” range till at least July 17.