NEW DELHI: After a day of cloudy skies and gusty winds, rain swept across parts of the city on Thursday evening, bringing some respite from the prevailing heat during the noon hours. The showers, which began in parts of west and north Delhi, were spread to central and south Delhi, Gurgaon and other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) as the evening progressed. However, the persistent air pollution remained a concern.
The city woke up to overcast skies and windy conditions on Thursday, with temperatures appearing to dip through the day. While rain had been forecast, the anticipated showers took time to arrive, with several parts of the capital witnessing cloudy conditions for most of the day before rainfall picked up in the evening.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and hail, along with winds reaching 40-60 kmph, were witnessed in parts of central Delhi, New Delhi, south-west Delhi, west Delhi and north Delhi. Other areas, including south-east Delhi, east Delhi, Shahdara, north-east Delhi and south Delhi, received moderate rain and thunderstorms, accompanied by winds of 30-40 kmph.
As per the forecast for the evening, light to moderate rain and thundershowers gradually covered Gurgaon and central and south Delhi from around 7:30 pm and continued till the filing of this report. However, parts of Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad remained largely dry until around 8 pm.
The IMD had issued a red alert for Delhi amid the possibility of severe weather, with thunderstorms, lightning, hail and strong winds expected in several districts. Residents reported rainfall in areas such as ITO, Mandi House Preet Vihar, Dwarka, Laxmi Nagar, Mayur Vihar Nirman Vihar and Yamuna Bank and even towards Shalimar Bagh, Okhla and Mehrauli during the evening.
The cloudy conditions also posed a hurdle for moon sighting on the occasion of Karwa Chauth, with dense cloud cover over Delhi-NCR making visibility difficult. For Friday, the IMD has forecast generally cloudy skies, with rain and thunderstorms likely to continue. Patchy showers are also expected during the first half of the day, suggesting that the change in weather may persist beyond Thursday evening.