Delhi braces for more rain; IMD issues red alert for parts of capital

The red alert was issued for north, northwest, northeast, central, east, and parts of southeast, west, and New Delhi, along with all of Shahadara.

|The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a red alert, the highest level of weather warning, for most of Delhi, forecasting very light to light rain, thunderstorms, and 60-70 kmph winds gusting to 80 kmph even as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 28.2°C. The mercury was expected to reach between 38°C and 40°C, and an Air Quality Index of 135 (moderate) was recorded at 9am.

Delhi is expected to receive further rain today, with the IMD’s forecast for the week, issued at 8:30 pm on Sunday, predicting a spell of very light to light rain along with thunderstorms and lightning towards the afternoon or evening. (PTI)

The IMD issued the highest weather warning over an hour after sounding a yellow alert, implying severely disruptive weather conditions for most of southern Delhi around 7am, as parts of the city received light showers on Monday morning.

In a statement issued at 8:20am, the IMD said a fresh, intense convective cloud mass was moving southeastwards across Haryana's Rohtak. It added that this was likely to impact most places in Delhi. The red alert was issued for the north, northwest, northeast, and central Delhi.

Palam recorded the highest rainfall at 1.3mm between 5:30am and 8:30am, followed by Chattarpur (1mm), Pitampura, and Pusa (0.5mm), Ayanagar (0.6mm) during the same period. Lodi Road received trace rainfall. No other weather station recorded rainfall until 8:30 am on Monday.

The IMD said that light rainfall with thunderstorms is expected at Bawana, Rajouri Garden, Patel Nagar, Safdarjung, Lodi Road, Buddha Jayanti Park, President House, Rajeev Chowk, ITO, Kalkaji, Tughlakabad, and Haryana's Rohtak, Kharkhoda, and Palwal.

On Sunday, the IMD forecast a spell of very light to light rain and thunderstorms on Monday afternoon or evening. The IMD had said that thunderstorms were likely on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

It added that the city would also get rain on Saturday, even as the maximum temperature is expected to rise and likely reach 42°C to 44°C by the weekend. The minimum temperature is expected to rise and reach 30°C to 32°C by Saturday.