Delhi-NCR is likely to see light to moderate rainfall in the next 48 hours with a yellow alert in place for both on Wednesday and Thursday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated.
Delhi-NCR received more rain in the early hours of Wednesday, with the minimum temperature settling at 20.5°C — six degrees below normal.
A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.
According to IMD, Delhi’s Safdarjung received 23.4mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, till 8:30am on Wednesday.
Met officials said the next spell of rain is expected late in the evening or at night, with Delhi recording light rain and gusty winds of up to 50 km/hr.
Also Read: Rainfall to continue in northwest India for next four days: IMD
Similar activity is forecast for Thursday as well, with the possibility of a drizzle on Friday too.
“Rains will continue till June 2, before we see clear skies return. A gradual rise in mercury will occur beyond that,” said a met official.
Rainfall between 2.5mm and 15.5mm is classified as light, between 15.6mm and 64.4mm is moderate, while over 64.5mm in a single day is heavy rainfall.
Safdarjung (23.4mm), Palam (19.2mm) and Lodhi road (21.8mm) all received moderate rainfall in the last 24 hours, while Ridge (9.4mm) and Ayanagar (7.5mm) both recorded light rainfall.
With this spell, Delhi has now received 111mm of rainfall this month at Safdarjung — over three times the monthly average 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.
The national Capital had recorded gusty winds and light to moderate showers on Tuesday evening too, which saw diversion of ten flights from the Delhi airport between 6pm and 8pm.
Wind speed had touched 65 km/hr at Palam, while it touched 52 km/hr at Safdarjung, with nine of these flights being diverted to Jaipur and one to Lucknow.
Meanwhile, the pleasant weather helped improve Delhi’s air quality to the satisfactory category on Wednesday morning, with the average air quality index (AQI) recorded at 98 (satisfactory) at 9am.
It was 115 (moderate) at 4pm on Tuesday. The AQI is expected to hover between satisfactory and moderate till June 3.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies an AQI between 0-50 as good, between 51 and 100 as satisfactory, between 101 and 200 as moderate, between 201 and 300 as poor, between 301 and 400 as very poor and over 400 as severe.
