Rain lashes Delhi, but mercury to spike in coming days: IMD

Strong storms and light showers lashed parts of the Capital on Sunday evening even as the mercury is gradually set to rise through the week, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Strong, dusty winds on Sunday evening provided relief from the sultry heat recorded during the first half of the day when Delhi’s maximum temperature was 37.4 degrees Celsius (°C).

However, Delhi’s maximum remained two notches below normal for this time of the year, with a rise from Saturday’s 35.1°C. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 21.4°C, four degrees below normal. It was 21°C on Saturday. Though Safdarjung is representational of Delhi’s weather, the highest maximum on Sunday was 38.9°C at the Pusa station.

Delhi felt the impact of a prevailing western disturbance only after 5.30 pm with winds of up to 40 km/hour accompanied by short but intense spells of rain. The wind speed touched 58 km/hour at Palam at 5.30 pm.

With Sunday’s spell of rain, Delhi has received 49.9mm of rainfall in May. This is already over the month’s normal of 30.7mm. In May 2022, Delhi received 47.7mm of rainfall, while in 2021, it received 144.8mm of rainfall. The all-time rainfall record for May is 165mm in 2008.

IMD has forecast the impact of this western disturbance to wane from Monday with no rain expected in Delhi until May 13. IMD said that Delhi’s maximum will also gradually rise to 39°C by May 12. Forecasts show with no rain expected in the coming days, the minimum could gradually touch 24°C by May 14.

“The first half of the day recorded high temperatures but due to the formation of thunder clouds towards the evening, Delhi received short but intense rain in most places. At some locations, only a dust storm was recorded,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Faridabad recorded a maximum of 39.5°C, Gurugram 37.8°C, and Noida 38.1°C.

Among Delhi’s weather stations till 8.30pm, Safdarjung recorded 4.2mm rainfall and Palam recorded 0.6mm rainfall.

Delhi’s air quality has also seen an improvement in the last 24 hours, returning to the “moderate” range on Sunday. The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 173 (moderate) according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4pm. It was 234 (poor) at the same time on Saturday. Forecasts show the AQI is likely to remain in the moderate range till Wednesday.