Overnight rain, gusty winds bring mercury down in Delhi

Delhi: Overnight rain, accompanied with gusty winds of up to 60 km per hour, brought the mercury down in the national capital on Sunday, the weather department said.

The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 9.2 mm rainfall. On Saturday, it recorded the maximum temperature six notches below normal.

The Palam Observatory gauged 5mm rainfall overnight.

The weatherman has predicted light rain and thunderstorm with winds gusting up to 50 kilometers per hour over Delhi-NCR on Sunday.

Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 35 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively.

With another western disturbance being expected in northwest India in the first week of June, a heat wave is not likely to return to Delhi-NCR before June 8, the weather department.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the India Meteorological Department’s regional forecasting centre, said the effect of the current western disturbance and easterly winds will reduce significantly by Sunday evening.

He said the maximum temperature in Delhi-NCR is likely to increase by two to four degrees Celsius from June 1 to June 3.

“However, the mercury will remain below 40 degrees Celsius over most places and heat wave conditions will not return,” he said.

A fresh western disturbance and southwesterly winds along with the formation of a low pressure system in the Arabian Sea will bring moisture to Delhi-NCR, Srivastava said.

These two systems will lead to thunderstorm and light rain over Delhi-NCR between June 3 and June 5.

“A heat wave is unlikely over northwest India till June 8,” he said.