Western disturbance brings cloudy skies to Delhi; govt may attempt cloud seeding Tuesday

The Delhi government said it was closely tracking the changing weather and may attempt cloud seeding on Tuesday if conditions are favourable

A western disturbance began influencing Delhi’s weather on Monday, bringing overcast skies, though rain eluded the city. Meteorologists said moisture from Cyclone Montha was also reaching the Capital through easterly winds and similar conditions are likely on Tuesday and Wednesday, with chances of light drizzle in some areas.

Morning smog at the raiway tracks in Dwarka in south-west Delhi , on Monday. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The Delhi government said it was closely tracking the changing weather and may attempt cloud seeding on Tuesday if conditions are favourable.

“With meteorological conditions fairly fluid, it’s important that the government constantly monitors them. The aircraft to carry out seeding is ready and on standby,” said Delhi’s environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

“We were closely monitoring the situation on Monday too, but clouds were at a much higher elevation during the day. We eventually decided not to fly the aircraft on Monday. We can attempt it on Tuesday if conditions are found to be feasible, and our aircraft is ready to fly anytime,” he told HT.

Last Thursday, chief minister Rekha Gupta announced that the Capital was ready to carry out cloud seeding on October 29, following a successful test run over Burari. Gupta had cited an IMD forecast indicating favourable conditions between October 28 and 30, coinciding with the current western disturbance.

Officials said an aircraft flew to Delhi from Kanpur via Meerut, Khekra, Burari, Sadakpur, Bhojpur and Aligarh before returning to IIT Kanpur during Thursday’s test. The exercise was meant to assess the aircraft’s capabilities and readiness for cloud seeding. Although silver iodide and sodium chloride — compounds used to induce artificial rain — were released during the flight, moisture levels were below 20%, well short of the 50% typically required for seeding to be effective. No rain was recorded. Officials said moisture levels have now increased to within the required range in Delhi.

The Capital experienced light haze through Monday, with relative humidity ranging between 58% and 96%. Meteorologists said the haze was caused by high moisture in the air, driven by both the western disturbance and easterly winds carrying moisture from Cyclone Montha in the Bay of Bengal.

“We are seeing easterly winds bringing in moisture. The haze was due to high humidity in the air. This is a combination of the western disturbance and moisture associated with the cyclone near the Bay of Bengal,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president at Skymet. He added that cloudy conditions are likely to persist in Delhi till Thursday.

Overcast skies led to a drop in daytime temperatures, with the maximum settling at 29.5°C — two degrees below normal — compared to 33.1°C a day earlier. The minimum temperature stood at 17.3°C, around normal for the season. Forecasts indicate similar conditions on Tuesday, with the maximum temperature expected to hover between 27°C and 29°C, and the minimum between 18°C and 20°C.

It has already been a wet October for Delhi, which has recorded 89.3mm of rainfall so far this month — nearly six times the long-period average of 15.1mm.