Parts of Capital to clock heavy rainfall on Thursday, mercury to dip: IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for Thursday in the national capital, predicting heavy rainfall in isolated patches and a dip in the maximum temperature.
On Wednesday, Delhi’s minimum temperature was 23°C, which dropped to three degrees below the normal for this time of the year, and the maximum temperature was 32.6°C, which was also one degree below the normal. While the day remained mostly cloudy, some areas received light rainfall.
“Generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain and thundershowers is expected at many places. Heavy rain at isolated places, accompanied with gusty winds of speed 30-40kmph, is also likely. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 30 and 23 degrees Celsius, respectively,” an IMD official said.
Around 6mm of rainfall was recorded in the city in the 24 hours up to 8.30am on Wednesday, and another 2.4mm of rainfall was recorded between 8.30am and 5.30pm.
The early morning showers led to traffic on several stretches, such as Vasant Vihar, Dwarka, INA and other parts of Outer Ring Road, during the morning peak hours.
Other weather stations in Delhi also recorded very light rainfall on Wednesday. The Palam weather station recorded 0.8mm of rain from 8.30am to 5.30pm, after receiving 11mm of rainfall overnight, till 8.30am. The Lodhi Road station recorded 2.6mm of rain till 8.30am and 1.2mm from 8.30am to 5.30pm, the Ridge station recorded 4.7mm of rainfall till 8.30am and 0.6mm of rainfall till 5.30pm, the Ayanagar station recorded 3.8mm of rain till 8.30am and 1.5mm after that, according to IMD.
IMD classifies trace to 2.4mm of rainfall as “very light”, 2.5mm to 15.5mm as “light” rainfall, 15.6mm to 64.4mm as “moderate” rainfall and 64.5mm to 115.5mm as “heavy rainfall”.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality also improved on Wednesday, recording a “satisfactory” air quality index (AQI) of 71, after recording two days of “moderate” AQI — 117 on Monday and 106 on Tuesday — according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The air quality early warning system for Delhi has forecast the AQI to stay “satisfactory” till Saturday. “The air quality is likely to be in satisfactory category from August 12 to August 14. The outlook for subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in satisfactory to moderate category,” AQEWS said in its bulletin on Wednesday.