Thursday’s brief spell of rain this season’s first; more to come

After days of pleasant and dry weather, the city saw the first showers of January on Thursday morning.

After days of pleasant and dry weather, the city saw the first showers of January on Thursday morning.

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The rain, which began around 11am, did not last long and was particularly strong in parts of south and west Delhi. The gauges at Safdarjung station recorded a rainfall of 0.4mm.

The rain has happened because of an active western disturbance that has brought fresh snowfall to parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh along with a dip in temperatures.

The day in the city, however, remained warm with the maximum temperature being recorded as 20.8 degrees Celsius, a degree above normal, but down from Wednesday’s 24.1 degrees Celsius. The minimum was recorded three degrees above normal at 9.7 degrees Celsius and up from Wednesday’s 8.3 degrees.

“We have hardly had any rainfall this winter season. Even during the worst cold spell, there was no rainfall. Today’s rain was very pleasant as it did not make the city cold,” said Medha Kapoor, a Delhi University student. According to the Met department, the city may see rainfall on Friday as well.

“We expect scattered rain and thunderstorms in the city on Friday. Hail storms are expected in a few places. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be around 19 and 11 degrees. There may be fog in the morning,” an IMD official said.