Orange alert in Delhi as IMD predicts heavy downpour for weekend

New Delhi:A day after Delhi observed its record rainfall, the capacity city on Saturday woke up to another wet morning with parts of the city recording light rain.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday issued an orange alert for the weekend, predicting rainfall intensity to increase during the day, with moderate to heavy rainfall on Saturday and Sunday.

The IMD declared the onset of the southwest monsoon over Delhi on Friday, following a 24-hour spell of ‘very heavy’ rainfall that saw multiple records tumble and the city come to a grinding halt. 

Safdarjung, the representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 228.1mm of rainfall in the 24 hours till 8:30am on Friday, giving Delhi its highest single-day June spell since 1936, IMD data showed. It was 235.5mm on June 28, 1936. 

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The IMD said that with Friday’s spell, June has now recorded 234.5 mm of monthly rainfall, which is over three times the normal monthly average of 74.1 mm. This is Delhi’s highest monthly total for June after 1936, when 415.8 mm was recorded and the third highest between 1901 and 2024, with 399 mm in 1933. 

IMD data showed that in the 24 hours between 8:30am on Friday and Saturday, Safdarjung recorded ‘trace’ rainfall, Palam 0.4mm, Lodhi road 1mm, Ridge ‘trace’ rainfall and Ayanagar 0.3mm. 

“We can expect light rain throughout the day, which will accumulate to gradually give moderate to heavy rainfall across the city. The intensity, however, will be much less than Friday,” an IMD official said. 

Meanwhile, the IMD’s forecast for Sunday shows the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city, which may once again lead to waterlogging. 

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The IMD classifies rainfall as ‘light’ when it is between 2.5 mm and 15.5 mm, ‘moderate’ when it is between 15.6 mm and 64.4mm, ‘heavy’ when it is between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm and ‘very heavy’ when over 115.5 mm is recorded in a 24-hour window. 

The minimum temperature recorded on Saturday was 28.0°C, which is around normal for this time of the year. It was 24.7°C a day earlier. Overcast conditions are not likely to raise this temperature much, with the maximum forecast to not go beyond 32°C on Saturday, the IMD has said. 

Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality was in the ‘moderate’ range, with an average air quality index (AQI) of 108 (moderate) at 9am. It was 64 (satisfactory) at 4pm on Friday. The AQI is likely to return to the satisfactory range following rainfall in the day.