Coolest September day in Delhi in last 10 years, brings much-needed relief 

NEW DELHI: Continuous showers in the national capital brought down the day temperature to 25.9 degrees Celsius — eight notches below normal — lowest maximum temperature recorded in September in five years. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, Safdarjung recorded 8.6 mm between 9 am and 5 pm on Friday while it had received 4.1 mm 24-hourly rain till 8 am.

Other weather stations in the Delhi-NCR till 5pm recorded — Lodhi Road (8.3mm), Ridge (5.4mm), Palam (1.4mm), Ayanagar (1.2 mm), Gurgaon (0.5 mm), CDO Ghaziabad (1.5mm), Pusa (3 mm), Sports Complex (1.5mm) and SPS Mayur Vihar (3.5mm), Mungeshpur (0.5mm) and Najafgarh (2.5mm).

IMD officials said that the steep drop in temperature is mainly on account of continuous and widespread showers even though the spell is not heavy, which is good for the ecology as well and allows rain water to seep well into the soil on earth, which is not the case when the spell is too heavy.

The weather office has forecast very light rain or drizzle on Saturday as well, however, after that it is likely to recede with monsoon expected to withdraw from September 25. However, even with the rainfall, September has a huge rain deficit of 78 per cent, which is unlikely to be covered and the monsoon may end in deficit itself, officials said.