Delhi waterlogged, rain alert in place till Friday
Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, received 0.2mm of rainfall in the 24 hours till 8:30am on Wednesday.
Parts of Delhi witnessed light to moderate showers on Wednesday, leading to waterlogging in some parts of the national capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that scattered light rain will continue over the city till Friday, with moderate showers likely over the weekend.
Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, received 0.2mm of rainfall in the 24 hours till 8:30am on Wednesday. Over the next nine hours, 12.4mm of rainfall was recorded. Both Lodhi Road and Najafgarh failed to record any rain in the 24 hours till 8:30am, but received 20.6mm and 26mm in the next nine hours. Mayur Vihar, meanwhile, recorded the highest rainfall between 8:30am and 5:30pm, with 46mm recorded there.
“The monsoon trough has been close to Delhi-NCR since Tuesday, which is what led to scattered light to moderate rain. Rain activity will continue till the weekend, with light rain expected on the next two days and light to moderate rain on Saturday and Sunday,” an IMD official said.
Waterlogging was also recorded in some parts of the city. The Delhi Traffic Police issued advisories, asking people to avoid stretches that included Anuvrat Marg, due to waterlogging near the Qutub Minar metro station and Najafgarh Phirni road.
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Overcast skies and rain meant Delhi’s maximum temperature was recorded at 32.4°C, which was two degrees below normal. It was 35.2°C a day earlier. Delhi’s minimum was 26.4°C on Wednesday, which was a degree below normal. It was 27.5°C a day earlier.
After Wednesday’s showers, till 5:30pm, the total monthly rainfall stood at 126.7mm. The long-period average (LPA) for rainfall in August at Safdarjung is 233.1mm. Last August, Safdarjung recorded 91.8mm and the monthly total was just 41.6mm in August, 2022.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet said the monsoon trough, though not directly over Delhi-NCR, is likely to add more to this monthly rainfall total in the next four days. “We are not expecting heavy rain, but patchy light rain should continue. Over the weekend, some places may record moderate rain too,” he said.
The rain also kept Delhi’s air in check, with the 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) recorded at 60 (satisfactory) at 4pm on Wednesday. It was 60 (satisfactory) on Tuesday too and 58 (satisfactory) on Monday, making it a fairly clean start to the month.
Forecasts by the Centre’s Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi shows the AQI is likely to remain satisfactory till Saturday, owing to more rain.