The dry spell in the city finally ended on Thursday with heavy rain being recorded in the afternoon that continued for more than two hours. As per the rain gauge at the district revenue office, the city received 82mm rain between 8am and 5pm. The weather conditions on Thursday, experts said, were favourable for the arrival of monsoon. However, the India Meteorological Department(MeT) has not yet formally declared it as the onset of monsoon.

The MeT department said the rain in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Thursday was a result of easterly winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal carrying moisture.

“However, the IMD will declare the progession of monsoon towards north-west India, once western Uttar Pradesh (UP) gets rain. Western UP was dry on Thursday, although rain is likely to occur on Thursday night and early Friday morning,” Kuldeep Srivastava, head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi, said, adding that monsoon is likely to be declared on Friday or Saturday.

Heavy showers in Gurugram were attributed to a patch of rain-bearing cumulonimbus clouds that were moving from Haryana to Delhi, and precipitated over the city. Cumulonimbus clouds are dense, large clouds carrying water vapour that rise to thousands of metres and produce thunderstorms, said experts. In comparison, neighbouring Delhi received lighter rain, except parts around the IGI airport that are closer to Gurugram.

“These clouds moved towards the southern parts of Haryana later on Thursday, so the intensity of rain in the city decreased towards the evening,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist, Skymet, a private weather prediction services agency.

Most days of this week are expected to be cloudy, with chances of light rain, the IMD has predicted. The maximum temperature on Thursday fell to 36.9 degrees Celsius from 38.1 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. The minimum temperature, however, rose to 31.1 degrees Celsius on Thursday from 29 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. Both day and the night temperatures are expected to be around the same this week.

The district reeled under a rain deficiency of 85% in June this year, making it the driest June in the last six years, according to the IMD. It received only 4.6mm rainfall in June as opposed to a normal rainfall of 30.1mm.

First Published: Jul 05, 2019 02:01 IST