New Delhi:
Delhi started the day with a spell of light rain under the influence of a western disturbance on Friday, the India Meteorological Department said.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which is considered official marker for the city, recorded 2.6 mm rainfall till 8:30 am. This is the first time since 2014 that Safdarjung did not record a heatwave in the pre-monsoon period, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre.
The weather stations at Palam, Lodi Road and Ayanagar gauged 5.8 mm, 3.2 mm and 10.6 mm rainfall, respectively.
According to Srivastava, no heatwave has been recorded even at Palam this year.
The last time something like this happened was in 2011, he said.
For the plains, a heat wave’ is declared when the maximum temperature is more than 40 degrees Celsius, and at least 4.5 notches above normal. A severe’ heat wave is declared if departure from normal temperature is more than 6.5 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD.
Frequent western disturbances and later Cyclone Tauktae led to rains in north India, keeping the mercury in check, the official noted.
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded a minimum of 23 degrees Celsius on Friday and the maximum is likely to settle at around 35 degrees Celsius.
A record 119.3 mm rainfall had pounded Delhi under the impact of cyclonic storm Tauktae and western disturbance in 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Thursday, breaking all the previous records for May, according to the IMD.
This was double the previous record rainfall of 60 mm on May 24 in 1976.
The city had also recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, 16 notches below normal and the lowest in the month of May since 1951.
Rainfall recorded below 15 mm is considered light’, between 15 and 64.5 mm is moderate’, between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm is heavy’, and between 115.6 and 204.4 is very heavy’. Anything above 204.4 mm is considered extremely heavy’ rainfall.
