Light rain in Delhi as mercury rises slightly

The Capital’s temperature went up marginally on Saturday, even as the city continued to record light rain in parts of the city. However, the India Meteorological department (IMD) issued no alerts for the following week and predicted a possibility of very light rain in the next few days.
“Generally cloudy skies along with light to moderate rain and thundershowers at various locations were observed on Saturday. There is a possibility of very light rain or drizzle in several parts of Delhi from Sunday to Tuesday,” said an IMD official.
Delhi’s maximum on Saturday was clocked at 35.5 degrees Celsius (°C), two degrees above normal, as compared to 35.2°C a day before. The minimum was recorded at 27.2°C, one degree above normal and a couple of notches higher than 25.3°C logged on Friday.
Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 5.7mm of rain in 24 hours till 8.30am and trace amount of rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm. The humidity in the last 24 hours oscillated between 71% and 91%.
Other weather stations in Delhi recorded rain as well. Palam recorded 10.5mm of rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm, Lodhi road recorded trace amount of rain till 8.30am and 0.5mm of rain after that till 5.30pm, Ridge recorded 1.7mm till 8.30am and 2.4mm of rain after that.
IMD classifies trace amount of rain to 2.4mm of rain as very light; 2.5mm to 15.5mm as light; 15.6mm to 64.4mm as moderate and 64.5mm to 115.5mm as heavy rain.
According to reports by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), at least 13 locations across Delhi recorded waterlogging. Four locations also reported incidents of tree falling between 6am and 2pm on Saturday.
No alert had initially been issued for Saturday, however, IMD changed the forecast to a yellow alert in the later part of the day. No alerts have been issued till next Friday. IMD has forecast light rain, along with thunderstorms, in the later half of the week.
According to IMD forecasts, the maximum is expected to stay around 36°C for the next couple of days, and the minimum around 27°C.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality continued to stay in the “satisfactory” category. The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 74 (satisfactory) at 4pm on Saturday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB’s) daily national bulletin. The AQI was 64 (satisfactory) on Friday.
Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the air quality to stay satisfactory till Tuesday.
“The air quality is likely to be in the ‘satisfactory’ category till August 20. The outlook for subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the ‘satisfactory’ to ‘moderate’ categories,” AQEWS said in their bulletin on Saturday.