Min temp dips six degrees below normal, more rain expected in Delhi

Safdarjung, Delhi’s representational weather station, recorded 1.6mm of rainfall over in 24 hours ending 8:30am on Friday

The minimum temperature dipped six degrees below normal to 20.5°C on Friday after overnight rain, which also improved the air quality to the “satisfactory” range. Very light rain was expected at some places in the capital on Friday evening after a largely sunny day while the maximum temperature was likely to hover around 36°C compared to 36.9°C on Thursday.

More rain is expected on Friday and Saturday. (PTI)

Safdarjung, Delhi’s representational weather station, recorded 1.6mm of rainfall over in 24 hours ending 8:30am on Friday. Ayanagar weather station recorded 10.8mm and Ridge 1.6mm. With this spell, the Safdarjung station has now recorded 62mm of rainfall so far in May. It is more than double the normal monthly average of 30.7mm for May.

In May 2022, Delhi received 47.7mm of rainfall. It received 144.8mm of rainfall in May 2021. The all-time rainfall record for May is 165mm (2008).

“More rain is expected on Friday and Saturday, but the intensity of the western disturbance is now reducing. We are not expecting rain on Sunday, but some light rain is likely to occur once again on Monday,” said India Meteorological Department scientist Kuldeep Srivastava. He added the maximum is unlikely to cross 40°C until the end of this month.

On Thursday night, wind speeds touching up to 58 km per hour at Palam led to the diversion of a Mumbai-Delhi Vistara flight to Jaipur. Gusty winds were also expected on Friday but of much lesser intensity.

A combination of strong winds and rain improved the air quality. An average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 98 was recorded at 9am on Friday. The AQI was 106 (moderate) at 4pm on Thursday. The AQI was likely to return to the “moderate” category later on Friday.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered “good”, between 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 “moderate”, between 201 and 300 “poor”, between 301 and 400 “very poor”, and over 400 “severe”.