NEW DELHI: The capital is likely to witness a flurry of rainy days towards the end of this month. An 'orange' alert, signifying moderate to heavy showers along with gusty winds and resultant waterlogging, has been sounded for Tuesday.
The showers will weaken from Wednesday. Spells of light rain and drizzle are likely to continue till Saturday, says a met official.
Safdarjung, the city's base met station, has received 280.9mm of rainfall so far this July, which is already well above the monthly normal mark of 210.6mm. And after this week, Safdarjung may easily cross the 300mm mark, the official adds.
Expect humidity to stay high over next few days
It drizzled in parts of Delhi during the day on Monday, with Safdarjung recording ‘trace’ rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Lodhi Road and Ridge stations recorded ‘trace’ rainfall during the same period, while Najafgarh and Narela recorded 1 and 2mm of rainfall respectively. Met officials said while moderate rainfall was forecast for Monday as well, the majority of the activity would take place in the early hours of Tuesday.
Despite overcast skies, Delhi recorded high humidity levels – oscillating between 70 and 87% respectively. “With high moisture content in the air, humidity levels will remain high during the next few days. However, strong winds on Tuesday will provide a cooling effect,” said a met official. The maximum temperature, recorded at 33.1°C on Monday, is expected to drop to 30°C by Tuesday, the IMD says.
The air quality was recorded at 86 on Monday, which falls in the ‘satisfactory’ category. SAFAR, a forecasting body under the ministry of earth sciences, says rain activity in the next few days will have a positive impact on air quality.
“The overall air quality is in the lower side of ‘satisfactory’ category as forecast. Rainfall activity in Delhi is likely to increase in the next two days. Increased rainfall activity will influence AQI positively through the washout process and ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’ AQI is predicted in the next three days,” said SAFAR.
