NEW DELHI: The national capital received light rainfall on Tuesday which also brought the maximum temperature down by a notch. However, the relief will only last a short while, as weather officials predict that the city won’t get another good rain spell until at least August 21.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) records, Safdarjung received just 2.2 mm of rain till 5 pm. Whereas Palam received 4.6mm rain, Lodhi Road received 2.7 mm rain, Ridge received 2.8 mm, Ayanagar 6.8 mm, Gurgaon 2mm and Pusa 1.5 mm.
Delhi saw overcast skies and strong surface winds of up to 20-30kmph, which also helped bring the temperature down. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature was 33.1 degrees C, a notch below the season’s average, while on Monday, the temperature settled at 34.9 degrees, which is a notch above normal.
“No rainfall is likely to occur in Delhi-NCR over the next three days, as the monsoon trough is away in Central India,” said a senior IMD scientist. IMD’s seven days forecast shows the city will witness very light rain in some parts of the city on August 21-22.
The monsoon trough is not likely to shift towards the Indo-Gangetic Plains this week which may also cause the temperature to rise over the next few days. The IMD has predicted that only partly cloudy skies for the next three days while its updated bulletin on Tuesday afternoon said that strong winds reaching a speed of 20 to 30 kmph gusting to 40 kmph is very likely to prevail around the system centre over East Rajasthan and adjoining areas of West Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi on August 17.
Though August is considered to be the rainiest month in Delhi with a normal monthly average of 210.6 mm, the month has not seen a heavy rain spell so far.