Minimum in Delhi drops to 25°C as monsoon trough brings rain
Similar spells of showers are likely in the next two days and IMD officials attributed the reason to the passing monsoon trough
A monsoon trough passing over the Capital resulted in light to moderate rainfall in the city on Saturday, bringing the minimum temperature down by a couple of notches, said officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Following the rainfall, some parts of Delhi reported waterlogging as well as incidents of trees falling.
Similar spells of showers are likely in the next two days and IMD officials attributed the reason to the passing monsoon trough.
The minimum on Saturday, plunged to 25°C, two degrees below normal, from 29.6°C a day before. The maximum, however, went up marginally and was clocked at 35.6°C, compared to 34.3°C a day before. The maximum is expected to go down to 33°C by Monday and the minimum is expected to show an upward trend in the coming days, IMD predicted.
“On Saturday, a monsoon trough was passing over Delhi, leading to moderate rain in several places. The trough moved from north Rajasthan to Delhi and is now moving eastwards towards north of Bay of Bengal. There was some moisture from the Arabian Sea as well as Bay of Bengal,” said Krishna Mishra, scientist at IMD.
Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded 2.9mm of rain in 24 hours till 8.30am and 13.6mm of rain from 8.30am to 5.30pm.
Other weather stations received significant rain throughout the day as well. Palam received 7.8mm of rain till 5.30pm; Lodhi Road recorded 3mm of rain till 8.30am and 12.4mm of rain from 8.30am to 5.30pm; Ayanagar logged 34.8mm of rain till 5.30pm; SPS Mayur Vihar registered 15.5mm of rain in the early hours of the day and 0.5mm after that.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), Ghaziabad recorded 16mm of rain and Noida recorded 25.5mm of rain in the early hours.
IMD classifies the rainfall range of trace to 2.4mm as very light rainfall, 2.5mm to 15.5mm as light rainfall, 15.6mm to 64.4mm as moderate rainfall, 64.5mm to 115.5mm as heavy rainfall, and 115.6mm to 204.4mm as very heavy rainfall.
Mishra added, “A squall line had formed from northwest Delhi to Mainpuri across Faridabad, Palwal, Mathura and Agra, with slight discontinuity over Palwal-Nuh. It covered over 300km. When multiple convective cells form and accumulate, they join to form a squall line, which is basically a line of thunderstorm. It got triggered, leading to rain.”
According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, waterlogging was reported in Harsh Vihar, Om Vihar, Yamuna Vihar in Shahdara area, Mukherjee Nagar and Malviya Nagar. Several areas where trees fell included Defence Colony, Dilshad Garden, Model Town and Safdarjung Enclave, it added.
Mishra said that similar rainfall spells might occur for the next two days as the trough will be passing over or close to Delhi. “But it is obviously subject to several other atmospheric components,” he added.
However, no alert has been issued till next Friday.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality remained in the moderate category. The air quality index (AQI) was clocked at 102 (moderate), according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4pm. The AQI was recorded at 107 (moderate) a day before.