Delhi remained on orange alert and the IMD has asked people to check for traffic congestion, avoid waterlogged areas, and stay away from power lines or electrical wires.
A generally cloudy sky with heavy rain is expected in Delhi on Sunday, according to the India Meteorological Department’s seven-day forecast. The capital saw very light, scattered rain on Saturday, but the capital remained on an orange alert until Tuesday.
According to the IMD, no significant rainfall was observed on Sunday until 8.30. After the monsoon entered the capital and brought the city to a halt with the heaviest downpour (228.1 mm) in 88 years for June on Friday, the IMD warned of moderate to heavy rain on Sunday and heavy rain for the next two days.
After a steady decline in temperature since June 24, from 40.4 degrees Celsius to 32.5 degrees Celsius on Friday, the temperature climbed back up on Saturday to near-normal levels. The maximum temperature in Delhi rose to 35.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday while the minimum temperature climbed to 28 degrees Celsius, both close to the normal values – 37.2 degrees Celsius and 27.9 degrees Celsius, respectively. The humidity level saw a maximum of 97 per cent on Saturday.
The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday at the Safdarjung base station was 27 degrees Celsius, slightly below the normal value.
In its advisory during the orange alert period, the IMD has asked people to check for traffic congestion, avoid waterlogged areas, and stay away from power lines or electrical wires. It has also advised people to stay indoors and avoid travel in its impact-based Delhi-NCR forecast.
Recent satellite imagery detected a very likely possibility of light to moderate rain in many places, including an intense spell at a few places, along with isolated thunderstorms, gusty winds, and cloud-to-ground lightning for the next three hours in several places, including nearby places to Delhi such as Punjab, adjoining Himachal Pradesh, and east Uttar Pradesh, the Met office posted on X at 8.43 am.
The IMD recognises three types of lightning: intra cloud, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground. It says the third is the most dangerous kind.
On Saturday, IMD officials said active monsoon conditions will likely persist over Northwest India for the next five days, while peninsular India experienced reduced rainfall activity except in a few places.
According to a press release by the IMD on Saturday, heavy to very heavy rain will likely occur over Northwest and Northeast India over the next four to five days. The release also stated that the southwest monsoon further advanced on Saturday in the remaining parts of eastern and western Uttar Pradesh.