City receives light rain; minimum temperature rises

The minimum temperature of the city rose by several degrees to settle at 9.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the India Meteorological Department’s reading.

The minimum temperature of the city rose by several degrees to settle at 9.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the India Meteorological Department’s reading. The minimum temperature recorded on Friday was 4.1 degrees Celsius. Light rain was also reported from some parts of the city in the morning and evening hours.

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IMD officials had earlier predicted a rise in temperature starting Saturday. They attributed the increase in temperature to a western disturbance and said that there was a possibility of rain on Sunday as well. The maximum stayed at 19.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Palam observatory in Delhi. The IMD’s automatic weather station (AWS) for Gurugram did not record the city’s temperature on Saturday. The Palam observatory, according to the MeT department officials, gives a fairly accurate reading of the city’s weather.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said the rise in temperature is likely to continue and cold wave conditions will abate in the next three-four days. He said that rainfall under the influence of a western disturbance could be expected on Sunday as well. As per the IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum and minimum temperature are expected to hover between 19 and 9 degrees Celsius respectively on Sunday.

Meanwhile, air quality in the city stayed in the “very poor” zone with a reading of 336 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin. This is up from 376 (also ‘very poor’) the previous day. Gurugram did, however, remained the least polluted city in the NCR, with Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi all recording ‘severe’ air on Saturday. Experts said that air quality might improve starting from Sunday on account of rain and better winds conditions.

As per the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, “The air quality is likely to improve further on 03.01.2021 and reach in Poor to Moderate category. The air quality is likely to remain in moderate to satisfactory category on 04.01.2021(sic).” Subsequently, the air quality is likely to improve significantly from Saturday onwards and remain largely in “moderate” category.