Delhi sees more rain today, a three-day lull from tomorrow
Delhi received more rainfall last night and this morning, leading to a further drop in temperature. Monsoon finally arrived in the national capital city on Tuesday morning, after a long delay and several faulty alerts by the weather department. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) says this will be followed by a relatively dry spell over the next three days.
Delhi records minimum temperature at 26 degree Celsius
Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 26 degree Celsius today - one notch below normal. Now, more downpour is expected during the day and the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 34 degree Celsius, according to officials at the IMD. Heavy rains today also caused severe water-logging and traffic jams in several parts of the capital, reports say.
Only drizzle until Saturday, temperature will rise again
Weather department officials, however, said they expect only light rain from Thursday to Saturday. That will be followed by a spell of moderate rain on Sunday. The maximum temperature in the city will again climb up to 37 degree Celsius by the weekend, officials said. Delhi's air quality has been in the "Satisfactory" category for the past four days, thanks to the rains.
Delhi saw one of its most delayed monsoons this year
The annual expected date for the arrival of Monsoon in Delhi is June 27, according to weather experts. This year, the capital saw its most delayed monsoon in a span of 19 years. In 2002, monsoon had hit the city as late as July 19. Until Monday, Delhi had received over 60% lesser rainfall than normal.
IMD sounded several faulty alerts
The IMD had earlier announced that Delhi would witness monsoon rains much earlier this time, on June 15. However, rains kept evading the city for weeks after that prediction. In fact, the weather department's monsoon forecast for Delhi was wrong at least thrice, for which it received criticism. On Monday, the IMD called its inaccurate prediction of monsoon as "rare and uncommon."
Rains also likely over NCR, Haryana, UP
IMD tweeted moderate to heavy rainfall is also expected over NCR, and several parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Other areas where rain is likely include central Maharashtra, Telangana, coastal Karnataka, and parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Sikkim, Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura, according to the IMD.
