Relief for Delhi’s scorched earth as rain pushes mercury to 3-week low

Intermittent showers and gusty winds hit the Capital on Friday, pushing down temperatures significantly and bringing the city some long-awaited relief from a series of brutal heatwaves, the India Meteorological Department said

Intermittent showers and gusty winds hit the Capital on Friday, pushing down temperatures significantly and bringing the city some long-awaited relief from a series of brutal heatwaves, the India Meteorological Department said.

Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded 19.1mm of rainfall from the early hours of Friday till 5.30pm. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded 19.1mm of rainfall from the early hours of Friday till 5.30pm.

The maximum temperature on Friday, as a result, dropped to 36.7°C, nearly three degrees below normal, from 40.2°C just a day ago. Friday’s temperature was also the city’s lowest since May 26, when the maximum also stayed at 36.7°C, three days after strong winds and showers lashed the city.

Delhi has been beset by a series of heatwaves for nearly two weeks now, with temperatures well above normal in most parts of the city for much of June.

Spells of rain on May 23 and May 30 regulated temperatures to an extent, but the dry spell has left the city scurrying not just for the shade, but also scrambling for water, which has been in short supply across several parts.

The city recorded 7.2mm of rain between 8.30am on Thursday and 8.30am on Friday. It also added 11.9mm of rain till 5:30 pm on Friday. IMD classifies rainfall as ‘very light’ when it records precipitation between ‘trace’ and 2.4mm, as ‘light’ when showers are between 2.5mm and 15.5mm, and ‘moderate’ when it is between 15.6mm and 64.4mm.

The minimum temperature on Friday stood at 22.8°C, five degrees below the normal. On Friday, the temperature stayed below 40°C at all the 11 weather stations in the Capital, with Najafgarh logging the highest reading of 39°C.

According to the IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 35°C on Saturday while the minimum temperature may touch 22°C.

A generally cloudy sky is expected on Saturday with light to moderate rain and thundershowers, the forecast said. According to IMD officials, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall is likely over Delhi during the next four days under the influence of western disturbance and southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea to northwest India at lower tropospheric levels.

It has issued a yellow alert, warning of thundershowers or light rain, for four days starting Saturday. The mercury is predicted to drop to 35 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings: green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).

The weather will become clear after June 22 and dry westerly winds will commence but a steep rise in temperature is not predicted.

Meanwhile, the air quality on Friday improved significantly and entered the “satisfactory” category with an air quality (AQI) reading of 88. On Thursday, the AQI was 132 in the “moderate ” category. An AQI between 51 and 100 is classified “satisfactory” and between 101 and 200 “moderate”.