Delhi witnessed overnight light rainfall as north continued to reel under cold wave conditions. On Sunday morning, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu and Kashmir received fresh snowfall.
New Delhi: Delhi on Sunday morning continued to receive light rainfall even as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that the minimum temperature was likely to remain 2-3 degrees Celsius below normal across the western Himalayan region, east-central and east and northeast India. According to the weather department, the maximum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 12.2 degrees Celsius.
The residents in Delhi woke up to the light rainfall for a second consecutive day today (January 23). Delhi has recorded nearly 70 mm of rainfall in January this year, as on Saturday, the highest in the month in the last 32 years, the IMD said. Delhi registered 69.8 mm of rainfall by 9.30 pm on Saturday, an official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. It is the highest since January 1989 when the capital received 79.7 mm rainfall, he said.
According to the IMD, rain on Saturday brought down the maximum temperature to 14.7 degrees Celsius, seven notches below the average and also the lowest for the season so far. The Safdarjung Observatory, which is considered the official marker for the city, had recorded 5 mm rainfall till 8 am on Saturday. The minimum temperature settled at 11.5 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season’s average, the IMD said.
Delhi’s air quality was recorded in the ‘very poor’ category on Saturday (January 22). The 24-hour air quality index (AQI) read 316 at 4 pm, Central Pollution Control Board data showed. The AQI of Faridabad (330) and Gurgaon (304) also recorded in the ‘very poor’ category. While the AQI of neighbouring Ghaziabad (287), Greater Noida (260) and Noida (277) recorded in ” poor” category. 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”.
Cold wave: North India continues to shiver
The cold weather conditions over north India continued to prevail as the IMD predicted rainfall in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh till Monday. The weather department said that dense fog prevailed in isolated pockets over East Uttar Pradesh. The IMD said that western disturbance (WD) lies as a cyclonic circulation over north Pakistan and neighbourhood with a trough aloft roughly along Longitude 65 degree East to the north of Latitude 28 degree North in mid and upper tropospheric levels.
IMD tweeted, “Light intensity rain/drizzle with moderate intensity rain over few places would occur over and adjoining areas of many places of Delhi, NCR ( Loni Dehat, Hindon AF Station, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Chhapraula, Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Bulandshahar, Jahangirabad, Anupshahar, Bahajoi, Shikarpur, Khurja, Pahasu, Debai, Narora, Gabhana, Jattari, Atrauli, Khair, Aligarh, Iglas, Sikandra Rao, Hathras, Jalesar, Sadabad, Tundla, Agra, Firozabad (U.P.) during next 2 hours.”
On Sunday morning, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh received fresh snowfall as the region continues to reel under cold wave conditions.
Cold wave conditions also prevailed in some parts of Punjab and in isolated pockets over Haryana. Meanwhile, parts of Jammu and Kashmir received fresh snowfall, leading to further drop in temperature in the region.
On Saturday, the Meteorological Department issued an orange alert for the second consecutive day warning of thunderstorms accompanied by lightning strikes and hail in 20 districts of Madhya Pradesh. Parts of the central state, including Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Indore, received rainfall. A yellow alert warning of thunderstorm and lightning strikes has also been issued for 11 districts, including Bhopal and Jabalpur, an official told PTI. These alerts are valid till Sunday morning, he said.
