Short rain spell in Delhi; temperature likely to drop: IMD

Delhi experienced scattered rain early Saturday, leading to improved air quality. Light rain is forecasted for Sunday, with temperatures expected to drop further.

Parts of Delhi received scattered rain shortly after midnight on Saturday, followed by a mostly cloudy morning that gradually cleared into a sunny afternoon and a bright evening, with temperatures slightly lower than the previous day. The air quality also improved, returning to the “satisfactory” category on Saturday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast very light to light rain on Sunday along with a further dip of several degrees in both maximum and minimum temperatures by Monday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast very light to light rain on Sunday along with a further dip of several degrees in both maximum and minimum temperatures by Monday.

“Very light to light rain may occur in several parts of the city on Sunday. There are chances of moderate rain in Delhi on Monday due to a depression moving towards the north-northwest border of Madhya Pradesh. So we may see significant rain next week in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. This might bring the maximum temperature of the Capital down by a few notches,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.

Only trace rainfall was recorded by the Safdarjung and Palam weather stations between 11.30pm on Friday and 2.30 am on Saturday. In the same period, Ayanagar recorded 23mm rain and Ridge 0.4mm rain. No significant rain was recorded after that till 8.30am, and none between 8.30am and 5.30pm, according to data by the Met department.

According to IMD, up to 15.5 mm of rainfall is considered light rainfall, 15.6mm to 64.4 mm is considered moderate rainfall, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is considered heavy rainfall and 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm is considered very heavy rainfall.

Delhi’s minimum temperature dropped by a degree and was clocked at 27 degrees Celsius (°C) on Saturday. The maximum temperature was recorded at 36.8°C, 1.9°C below the normal and lower than 36.9°C recorded on Friday.

According to IMD, the maximum temperature is expected to drop to 31-33°C by Monday and 30-32°C by Tuesday. The minimum is also expected to go down by a couple of degrees.

Delhi’s air quality improved back to the “satisfactory” category by Saturday and the 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was logged at 84 (satisfactory) at 4pm, as compared to 136 (moderate) on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

Forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi suggest that AQI is likely to stay in the “satisfactory” category for the next few days.

“The air quality is likely to be in the satisfactory category from Sunday to Tuesday. The outlook for the next six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the satisfactory to moderate category,” the AQEWS bulletin said on Saturday evening.