Rains in Delhi likely to intensify over weekend, says IMD

At the Palam weather observatory, the maximum temperature fell to 27.2°C, eight degrees below what is considered normal for this time of the year, and the minimum was 26.7°C.

The light to moderate rainfall in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday helped bring down the daytime temperature by nearly seven degrees with the weather department predicting showers on Thursday, which is likely to intensify over the weekend.

This month, Delhi has already broken the record for the wettest July since 2003 (File Photo / Representational Image)

On Wednesday, the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung weather station, which is considered the official marker for the city, was 27.6 degrees Celsius, seven degrees below the season’s normal. The minimum here was 25.1°C, two notches below normal.

At the Palam weather observatory, the maximum temperature fell to 27.2°C, eight degrees below what is considered normal for this time of the year, and the minimum was 26.7°C.

Met department recordings show that till 5.30pm on Wednesday, Safdarjung recorded 4.1mm rain, Palam received 26.8mm and Lodhi Road recorded 6mm rain. The Ridge station received 32.6mm rain, while the Aya Nagar observatory received 22.4mm rain.

This month, Delhi has already broken the record for the wettest July since 2003, recording 381mm rainfall till Tuesday (July 27). In July 2003, the city recorded 632.2mm rain. Normally, weather records show Delhi logs 210.6mm precipitation in July.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of India Meteorological Department’s regional weather forecasting centre, said another spell of moderate rainfall is likely to hit the city between July 30 and 31.

“There is a forecast of moderate showers in Delhi and NCR again from July 30, so the cumulative rainfall recording for July this year could be even higher. We will have to see if it breaks any more records,” said Srivastava.

Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change) at Skymet Weather, a private weather forecaster, said despite a late start to monsoon, Delhi has managed to exceed the rainfall usually seen in July.

“With just a few spells of rain, we have managed to record a surplus of nearly 200% rainfall already and we still have a few more days for the month to end. A low pressure area (LPA) over north Bay of Bengal has intensified into a well-marked LPA over the same region. This means that in the coming days, intense showers will be recorded in Delhi’s neighbouring states as well,” said Palawat.