Wet start to March likely in Delhi, predicts IMD
The Capital ended February with 32.5mm of monthly rainfall, which was an excess of 53% over the LPA of 21.3mm
A western disturbance will likely impact Delhi and the National Capital Region on Friday and Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, adding that a “yellow” and an “orange alert” have been issued for both days, respectively.
Met officials said the western disturbance is likely to start impacting Delhi from Friday evening, with chances of a drizzle in some parts of Delhi likely towards the night. On Saturday, it has forecast gusty winds up to 50 km/hour, with light to moderate rainfall also possible across the city during the day.
“This western disturbance is expected to be fairly active and we have a yellow alert in place for Friday and an orange alert for Saturday. It will start to get windy from Friday evening itself and some parts of Delhi NCR may record a drizzle at night. The main activity during this spell is expected on Saturday when gusty winds of 40-50 km/hour are likely during the day and most places should record light to moderate rainfall,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.
Forecasts by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi also said strong winds and rain could lead to Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) touching the “satisfactory” zone on Saturday. Delhi’s air quality remained in the “moderate” category for the eighth consecutive day on Thursday.
“Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in ‘moderate’ on March 1. It is likely to touch ‘satisfactory’ on March 2 and then return to ‘moderate’ on March 3. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows air quality is likely to remain ‘moderate’,” said EWS in its daily bulletin on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the city recorded a maximum temperatureof 27.6 degrees Celsius (°C) on Thursday, which was adegree below normal. The maximum is forecast to remain around 28°C on Friday, before dipping to 24°C on Saturday as overcast skies return to the Capital. Delhi’s minimum was recorded at 11.4°C on Thursday — a degree below normal for this time of the year. The minimum should rise by around three degrees over the next 48 hours, touching 14°C on Saturday, IMD said.
The Capital ended February with 32.5mm of monthly rainfall, which was an excess of 53% over the long-period average (LPA) of 21.3mm. This was Delhi’s wettest February since 2014 when 48.8mm rainfall was recorded.
March is usually drier than February, with the monthly rainfall LPA being 17.4mm. Srivastava said a large chunk of this monthly average could be covered during the spells of rainfall expected over the next two days. “We could see moderate rainfall in some places, so a significant portion of the monthly rainfall can be recorded on Saturday itself,” he said.
Last March, Delhi received 53.2mm. This was three times the monthly average and Delhi’s wettest March since 2020 when Delhi recorded 109.6mm during the month.
The 24-hour average AQI stood at 147 (moderate) at 4pm on Thursday. It was 141 (moderate) a day earlier at the same time. The average AQI for the entire month was 218, Delhi’s lowest in the last nine years since the AQI was launched in April 2015, Central Pollution Control Board data showed.