NEW DELHI – Delhi is likely to witness light rain on Monday as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast. On Sunday too, the Safdarjung observatory, which is considered representative of the capital’s weather, did not receive any rain till 5.30pm despite the forecast for light and scattered rain.
The minimum temperature on Monday is likely to be 26 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature is predicted to reach 34 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature on Sunday was 34.7 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature was 25.8 degrees Celsius – one degree below normal.
August has been a month of extremes for Delhi, said weather experts. Data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the first 29 days of the month shows that from a monthly rain deficit of 60%, the city received 11% surplus rain before returning to an 11% deficit as on Sunday. The city has received just nine rainy days (rainfall above 0.16mm) this month, lower than usual for August, according to data from the weather office.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality was in the moderate category on Monday morning. Data from Central Pollution Control Board showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 6am stood at 103. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI had been 119, which is also in the moderate 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.
On Sunday, the Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar) said, “Delhi’s AQI is in moderate category with PM10 as leading pollutant. External dust from western part of Delhi, and local re-suspended dust within the NCR (National Capital Region) are not able to get dispersed due to low wind speeds on local scale in NCR where share of coarser particle reached as high as 75%. The air quality is predicted to deteriorate to upper side of moderate category for the next two days under similar wind conditions and low rainfall.”
