Orange alert: Moderate rain likely tomorrow in Delhi

NEW DELHI: After Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station, recorded ‘very heavy’ rainfall of 117.2mm on the first day of monsoon, the city has been receiving ‘very light’ rainfall for the past few days.
Though India Meteorological Department said showers are expected for the next seven days, intense rain activity is likely on Thursday. The met department has issued an ‘orange’ alert for Thursday with prediction of ‘moderate’ rain.
Safdarjung recorded 117.2mm rainfall till 8.30 am on July 1. However, it reported just 2.6mm rainfall from 8.30 am on July 1 till 5.30 pm on July 5. The IMD’s data shows that Safdarjung received 119.8mm rainfall in July so far as against the normal of 210.6 mm rainfall. Lodhi Road, Ridge, Ayanagar and Palam recorded 113.6, 95.2, 66.7 and 31.8 mm rainfall, respectively, in July so far. In July 2020, Safdarjung received excess rainfall of 141% as it logged 507.1mm rainfall.
The maximum temperature on Tuesday rose to 37.9 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal, as against 36.8 degrees Celsius on Monday. The minimum temperature too increased from 27.4 degrees Celsius on Monday to 29 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal, on Tuesday.
The day temperature is likely to hover around 37 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and it may dip to 34 degrees Celsius on Thursday due to rain.
Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, continued to remain in ‘moderate’ category with an overall Air Quality Index at 161. Till July 8, peak wind speed is likely to be 12-15 km/h causing moderate dispersion and AQI is likely to be within ‘moderate’ due to expected light rain spells.