Delhi: More rain expected after overnight showers under WD, Cyclone Arnab influence

More rain, including intermittent heavy showers, was expected across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) until late Friday afternoon, even as overnight unseasonal rainfall under the influence of a western disturbance (WD) and Cyclone Arnab improved air quality to the satisfactory category and dipped the minimum temperature to 17.2°C on Friday.

Safdarjung, the city’s base weather station, recorded 61.4 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30am on Friday. Waterlogging was reported across the Capital, including the Zakhira and Ashram underpasses.

Lodhi Road recorded the highest rainfall at 63.4mm among the five India Meteorological Department (IMD) weather stations, followed by Safdarjung (61.4 mm), Ayanagar (55.4 mm), the Ridge (50.3 mm) and Palam (43.1 mm) during the 24 hours until 8am.

Relatively low rainfall was recorded between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Thursday. Palam received 1 mm, Safdarjung recorded 0.5 mm, while Lodhi Road, the Ridge and Ayanagar reported trace rainfall during this period.

An average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 90 was recorded at 9.05am, compared to 222 at 4pm on Thursday in the poor category. Sixteen of the air quality monitoring stations recorded AQI in the moderate and the remaining in the satisfactory range.

At 8am, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) listed PM2.5 as the dominant pollutant at 40 of Delhi’s 53 reporting stations and PM10 at 10 stations. At the same time a day earlier, PM2.5 was the main pollutant at 40 stations and PM10 at 18 of the 58 reporting stations.

The minimum temperature at Safdarjung of 17.2°C on Friday was 1.1 degrees above normal and 2 degrees lower than the previous day. On Thursday, Safdarjung recorded a maximum temperature of 25.4°C, or 5.6 degrees below normal and 6.4 degrees lower than the previous day. It was the lowest maximum temperature recorded in October in four years. Lodhi Road recorded a maximum of 25.1°C, followed by the Ridge at 25.2°C, Ayanagar at 24.6°C and Palam at 24.2°C.

Private forecaster Skymet Weather vice-president (meteorology and climate change) Mahesh Palawat said the skies will clear up from Saturday. “The daytime temperature will rise, and the minimum temperature will dip,” he said.

Meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya said light to moderate rains will continue throughout with intermittent heavy showers. “Weather conditions will start to improve from evening hours,” he said in a post on X.