Delhi woke up to an intense spell of rain across the capital and NCR on Thursday, marking a rainy end to July.
According to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded until 5:30 pm on Thursday, Safdarjung — the capital’s base weather station —received 16.6 mm of rainfall, categorized as ‘light’. In contrast, the Palam station recorded 79 mm, classified as ‘heavy’ rainfall, between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm. The gauges at Najafgarh and Ayanagar recorded moderate rainfall levels of 61 mm and 51.1 mm, respectively, the IMD said.
A heavy downpour also lashed several parts of the national capital on Wednesday night and the intervening night between Wednesday and Thursday. The Meteorological Department reported moderate rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8:30 am on Thursday. During this time, the base station at Safdarjung recorded 39.1 mm of rainfall, Palam 34.6 mm, Pusa 41 mm, and Lodhi Road 32.4 mm.
The deluge led to waterlogging during office hours, causing traffic snarls across several parts of the city and NCR.
The weather department forecast light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday.
On Thursday, Delhi’s base station recorded a dip in maximum temperature of 29.9°C, 4.5 notches below normal. The minimum temperature departed 2.4°C and settled at 24.7 °C.
Scattered showers across parts of Delhi brought down the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) from 66 to 59, maintaining it in the ‘satisfactory’ category. According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the capital’s average AQI in the past 24 hours on Wednesday stood at 59, with PM10 and Ozone identified as the major pollutants recorded at 33 out of 39 stations.
As per CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.