Delhi records highest 24-hour rainfall in March in 3 years, says IMD

The Safdarjung observatory, the national capital’s primary weather station, recorded 6.6 mm rainfall. The rain was accompanied by gusty winds reaching speeds up to 32 kilometres per hour and thunderstorms, the weather office said as reported by PTI.

The observatory at Palam clocked 10.4 mm rainfall alongside strong winds reaching speeds of up to 46 kilometres per hour and thunderstorms. “Monday’s rainfall was the highest in 24 hours recorded in three years in March,” a Met official was quoted by PTI.

Heavy rain lashed parts of the national capital on Monday evening, sending people scurrying for cover. Commuters also faced waterlogging and traffic snarls while navigating the roads. 

Yesterday, due to bad weather conditions in the national capital, a total of 10 flights were diverted to other airports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had said. Among the 10 flights which were diverted, seven were diverted to Jaipur while three to Lucknow.

“Due to bad weather (Rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status,” SpiceJet had said.

As per the latest IMD predictions, Light to moderate intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR today. The weather office has forecast generally cloudy skies with the possibility of very light rain or drizzle. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 26 and 16 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 17.4 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal, while humidity levels oscillated between 48 percent and 94 percent. At 4 pm, Delhi’s 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the ‘moderate’ category at 154.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

According to the government’s air quality forecast agency SAFAR, moderate surface winds are likely to maintain dispersion and air quality.

“Overall air quality is likely to be within ‘moderate’ or ‘upper end of satisfactory’ for the next three days due to moderate dispersion by surface wind speed as well as wash out by likely rain spells,” it said. For the subsequent six days, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘moderate’ category.

(With inputs from agencies)