The maximum temperature in Delhi rose by nearly three degrees on Saturday, as dry conditions prevailed in the city, three days after monsoon landed in the Capital.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s Safdarjung observatory, which is Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius (°C), nearly two degrees below the normal temperature for this time of the year. The minimum temperature on Saturday stood at 26.2°C, two degrees below the normal temperature.
The onset of monsoon in Delhi was declared on Thursday, with the Capital recording 117.2mm of rain in a span of 24 hours, pushing the temperature down significantly and giving the city its coolest day in 116 days on Thursday.
According to the weather office, the city received 1.9mm of rainfall between 8.30am on Friday and 8.30am on Saturday.
Delhi, however, got no rain after that on Saturday.
The weather department classifies rainfall between ‘trace’ and 2.4 mm as ‘very light rainfall’, as ‘light rainfall’ when it is between 2.5 mm and 15.5 mm, as ‘moderate’ rainfall when it is between 15.6 mm and 64.4 mm and as ‘heavy’ when it is over 64.5 mm in a single day.
According to the weather office’s weekly forecast, the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 35°C on Sunday and the minimum may touch 26°C. A generally cloudy sky is expected on Sunday with light rain and thundershowers, the forecast said.
Meanwhile, the air quality on Saturday stayed in the “satisfactory” category with an air quality (AQI) reading of 95. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good“, 51 and 100 “satisfactory“, 101 and 200 “moderate“, 201 and 300 “poor“, 301 and 400 “very poor“, and 401 and 500 “severe“.
On Saturday, the Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) said that the air quality is expected to continue in the satisfactory category till Tuesday on account of high wind speed and subsequent moderate dispersion. “For the next three days (Sunday-Tuesday) peak wind speed is likely to be ~ 16-20 km/h causing moderate dispersion and AQI is likely to be within ‘satisfactory’ due to expected rain spells. Moderate temperature (~ 34-36 degrees Celsius) and mixing layer height (~ 1.0 km) maintains moderate ventilation,” stated the forecast.
