Most parts of the city received light rainfall through the night and early Monday morning. (PTI Photo)Cloudy skies and rainfall will persist in Delhi Monday after a rainy weekend for the national capital, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Light rainfall is on the forecast for the day and the intensity is likely to reduce, said the weather department.
Most parts of the city received light rainfall through the night and early Monday morning.
Over the past two days, the city has recorded moderate to heavy rainfall. Between 8.30 am Sunday and 8.30 am Monday, the Safdarjung weather station, the city’s base station, recorded 21.8 mm of rainfall. This is lower than the 74.3 mm of rainfall recorded during the preceding 24 hours.
The heavy rainfall between 8.30 am Saturday and 8.30 am Sunday was the second heaviest 24-hour spell at Safdarjung from 2007 onwards. Last year, October 18 saw a higher 24-hour amount of 87.9 mm. The IMD considers rainfall between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm as ‘heavy’. From 2007 onwards, the 24-hour rainfall in October has fallen within this ‘heavy’ range only twice—in 2021 and this year.
A western disturbance as well as a cyclonic circulation and easterly winds bringing moisture have contributed to the rainfall in the NCR. The cyclonic circulation lies over Rajasthan and the neighbourhood, according to an IMD update issued this morning.
Light rainfall is likely to persist on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the rest of the week may remain dry, the IMD forecast indicates. The maximum temperature is set to climb back up to around 30 degrees Celsius by October 14.
The maximum temperature in the city, which has remained well below normal for the past two days, is likely to remain so Monday, when it could be around 24 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature early Monday also settled two degrees below normal, at 19.2 degrees Celsius.
With the post-monsoon rain over the past three days, Delhi has recorded a massive excess in rainfall for the month. Till 8.30 am Monday, Safdarjung recorded 121.7 mm of rainfall for October, which is an 1168 per cent excess over a normal of 9.6 mm for the month so far. Lodhi Road recorded a higher amount of 124.3 mm for the month so far. This excess in rainfall comes after the withdrawal of the monsoon from Delhi left behind a shortfall of around 19 per cent in rainfall for the monsoon season.
The rainfall and strong winds also gave Delhi its second ‘good’ air day of the year on Sunday, when the AQI was 48. According to a forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the AQI on Monday is also likely to be in the ‘good’ category.