E-Paper
Delhi: IMD issues ‘red alert’ for parts of city amid heavy rain; AQI ‘satisfactory’
At around 9:15am, the IMD issued a red alert for the south-eastern region of the city, an orange alert for the south-western region and the central belt, and a yellow alert for the northern part of the city
Delhi continued to see moderate to heavy rainfall on Friday with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing an orange alert for the day. An ‘orange alert’ indicates very heavy rainfall ranging between 115mm and 204mm.
Multiple parts of Delhi experienced light showers late during Thursday night and on early Friday morning. From 11:30pm on Thursday to 8:30am on Friday, Chattarpur recorded the highest rainfall at 3.5mm. Safdarjung, the city’s base station for weather, recorded 3.4mm of rain, followed by Palam (2.3mm), Naryana (2mm), and Mayur Vihar and Janakpuri at 0.5mm each.
Also Read: Delhi under yellow alert as multiple spells of rain likely through the week, says IMD
At around 9:15am, the IMD issued a red alert for the south-eastern region of the city, an orange alert for the south-western region and the central belt, and a yellow alert for the northern part of the city, applicable till around noon.
“Thunderstorm/ Lightning with Heavy Rain very likely over parts of South East Delhi, East Delhi, Shahadra, Central Delhi, North East Delhi, South Delhi, New Delhi, South West Delhi, West Delhi, North West Delhi,” it stated, adding that moderate rain was also likely in the same regions. Additionally, the IMD has stated that light thunderstorms were very likely over parts of central, north east, north west, and north Delhi.
Multiple spells of very light to light rain are expected on Saturday, and stated to be possible on Sunday.
The IMD categorises rainfall up to 15.5mm as light, between 15.6mm to 64.4 mm as moderate, between 64.5mm to 115.5mm as heavy, and between 115.6 to 204.4 as very heavy.
AQI ‘satisfactory’
The city’s air has also remained clean due to the weather, with the Air Quality Index being recorded at 69 at 10:05am, in the “satisfactory” category.
Due to the rain, today’s maximum temperature is expected to be between 30°C to 32°C, rising to 33°C to 35°C on Saturday. Friday’s minimum temperature was recorded at 25.6°C. The city had seen a cool day on Thursday as the maximum temperature had dropped to 27.6°C, only 2°C higher than the day’s minimum temperature, which was also recorded at 25.6°C.
Due to strong rains over the past two days, the city has already recorded 127mm of rain in August. The IMD’s normal total rainfall for the month is 233.1mm.
Last year, the city had seen a significant surplus of rain during August, recording 400.81mm of rain.
To be sure, long period averages and totals for Delhi are calculated using the recordings at Safdarjung station, which is seen as representative of Delhi’s weather.
