Light to moderate rains likely in Delhi today
Another spell of light to moderate rainfall is predicted in Delhi on Wednesday, which will keep the heat at bay, the India Meteorological Department said. The city had received the first rain of the monsoon season on Tuesday, 16 days after the usual date of June 27. The weather department said parts of the capital recorded light rain overnight.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 29 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Wednesday.
Lodhi Road gauged 37.8 mm precipitation during the period.
Delhi recorded a minimum of 26 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 34 degrees Celsius.
Light to moderate rainfall is expected in Delhi over the next six days.
Over the last month, the weather department had struggled to accurately predict when the monsoon will reach the capital.
After several wayward forecasts, the IMD Monday acknowledged that "such type of failure by numerical models in the prediction of monsoon over the capital is rare and uncommon".
It had earlier said that the monsoon would hit Delhi on June 15, which would have been 12 days early, but the wind system entered a "break" phase.
The monsoon finally embraced Delhi on Tuesday. The rains, however, eluded Central Delhi, which remains the most rain-deficient district in the country this season, receiving only 8.5 mm rainfall against the normal of 139.3 mm since June 1, when the season starts.
It has recorded a shortfall of 94 per cent.
Overall, Delhi has so far received 65 per cent less rainfall than normal, putting it in the category of "large deficient" states.
(With PTI inputs)
