Delhi gets brief relief from heat as light rain lashes parts of city

NEW DELHI: After days of searing heat, strong winds, thunderstorms, and light rain in parts of Delhi brought much-needed respite to residents of the national capital early Saturday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which had initially issued an orange alert, changed it to yellow for the day, warning of light rain and gusty winds. However, it said orange alerts remain in place from Sunday for the next five days, signalling a return of the intense heatwave.

According to IMD data till 8.30 am, the Ridge station received 0.2 mm of rain between 11.30 pm on Friday and 2.30 am on Saturday, while Pusa logged 2 mm between 5.30 am and 8.30 am on Saturday. No significant rainfall was recorded elsewhere.

IMD said temporary relief from heatwave conditions is expected over northwest India, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, due to thunderstorm activity over the region, but temperatures are likely to rise again from Sunday onwards.

It said, wind speeds during the dust storm and thunderstorm activity early Saturday were recorded at up to 81 kmph at Pusa Road, 56 kmph at Palam, and 35 kmph at Pragati Maidan.

A significant reduction in visibility was also recorded at Palam airport, where visibility dropped from 3,500 metres to 1,500 metres within one hour.

However, IMD later informed that the current spell of winds and thunderstorms had moved southeastwards, away from Delhi.

"Very light to light rain, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and dust storms, is expected on Saturday. Strong surface winds of speed 40-50 kmph might also continue," said an IMD official.

Meanwhile, Safdarjung, representative of the city's weather, recorded a minimum temperature of 28.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, 1.7 degrees above the season's average and 0.9 degrees lower than the day before.

"The fall in minimum temperatures by one to two degrees Celsius occurred over Delhi, as a result of which no warm night conditions prevailed," the official said.

The maximum temperature settled at 41.1 degrees Celsius.

The city's air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 201 (poor) at 8 pm on Saturday, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

As per CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'.

The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the AQI to remain in the poor category for the next few days.