Gurgaon weather: Rain & wind keep mercury in check, another spell likely from March 30

GURGAON: The city woke up to overcast skies and light showers on Friday. An active western disturbance, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD), is prevailing over the northern region, inducing a cyclonic circulation over southwest Rajasthan and resulting in fairly widespread showers accompanied by thunderstorms in various parts of Haryana, including Gurgaon.
An IMD official said the city may not witness intense rain on Saturday with the retreat of persisting system. Two back-to-back western disturbances are likely to influence the region from March 30 to April 4, leading to scattered to fairly widespread rainfall across the region in the coming week.
This will also keep mercury levels in check with the maximum temperature likely to remain below normal during most days of the coming week.
On Friday, light rain began around 9am, drenching several parts of the city for around one and a half hours, before giving way to clear skies. A short but intense spell of thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds with speed up to 40 kmph lashed through the city around 6.45pm, followed by more bouts of light rain throughout the evening.
The IMD observatory recorded 2 mm rain until 5.30 pm with data for the rest of the night to be updated tomorrow. The daytime temperature on Friday dropped slightly to 28.4 degrees Celsius - two notches below normal, while the minimum temperature settled at 16.5 degrees Celsius - a notch above normal. The maximum temperature was recorded at 29.3°C on Thursday, while the minimum temperature was 13.9°C. The relative humidity index oscillated between 61% and 71% throughout the day.
The IMD official said the western disturbance seen is a cyclonic circulation over Afghanistan in lower and middle atropospheric levels and an induced cyclonic circulation lies over southwest Rajasthan and neighbourhood in lower tropospheric levels.
"Rain intensity is likely to reduce by Saturday with a possibility of patchy showers at isolated places in northern Haryana. The weather will remain dry with no significant change in maximum temperature for the next two days and will rise gradually by 3-5 degrees thereafter. But from Thursday onwards, the city is likely to witness another spell of rain," said Manmohan Singh, director, IMD Chandigarh.
For Saturday, the IMD projects partly cloudy skies with minimum and maximum temperatures likely to hover around 16 and 29 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Meanwhile, after parts of Delhi witnessed very light rain on Friday morning, many areas received intense rain and thundershowers in the evening, making the morning and the evening cooler than Thursday. However, the sky cleared out in the afternoon, keeping the maximum temperature almost same as Thursday.
Weather analysts said the weather conditions would change and temperatures would rise slightly on Saturday. "Delhi recorded very light rainfall till 5.30pm and some intense rain later and might see more rain till early Saturday morning. There is an active western disturbance and cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan, but these weather activities will end by Saturday. There will be no rain from Saturday," said weather scientist Kuldeep Srivastava of IMD.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 30.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, against 30.5 degrees a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 17.6 degrees Celsius, a degree above normal, against 14.8 degrees on Thursday. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday may hover around 30 and 16 degrees Celsius, respectively.