Early morning rain in Delhi, surrounding areas gives respite from heat

Delhi and its adjoining National Capital Region (NCR) received incessant downpours accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning in the early hours of Friday, bringing much-needed relief from the heat.

Visuals, shared by the news agency ANI, showed parts of Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad facing traffic snarls and waterlogged roads due to incessant rainfall.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that light to moderate-intensity rainfall would occur over the national capital and its adjoining NCR region.

Monsoon likely to arrive in Delhi over the next 2-3 days: IMD

"Thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain with heavy intensity rain over a few places and winds with speeds of 20-40 Km/h would occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR during the next 2 hours," it said in a post on X.

The national capital received heavy showers on Thursday, keeping the temperature slightly low throughout the day. The region received pre-monsoon showers on Wednesday as well which kept Delhi’s maximum temperature below 40°C.

Delhi: Heavy rain brings relief from heat; IMD issues ‘yellow alert’

Meanwhile, the weather agency has issued a ‘yellow alert’ till July 3, with forecasts showing moderate to heavy rain to continue for the next seven days in Delhi, predicting generally cloudy skies and varying intensities of rain accompanied by gusty winds.

The weather on June 29 is expected to be slightly cooler, with a high of 36°C and a low of 28°C. The city will likely experience light to moderate rain or thunderstorms with winds reaching speeds of 30-40 km/h. On June 30, temperatures will drop further to 34°C, with moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds.

For July 1 and 2, the IMD forecasts thunderstorms with moderate rain, with temperatures steady at a high of 34°C and a low of 27°C. Wind speeds will continue to vary, maintaining a range of 25-35 km/h.

The IMD further predicted that the monsoon is likely to arrive in Delhi over the next 2-3 days.

After morning rain spell, Delhi breathes best air since Sept ’23

“Conditions are likely to become favourable for further advancement of southwest monsoon into some more parts of Rajasthan; remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, some more parts of UP, Delhi, Chandigarh and some parts of Haryana, some more parts of Punjab, remaining parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu during next 2-3 days,” IMD said on Thursday.

Intermittent spells of pre-monsoon showers cleared Delhi’s air of sooty pollutants, as the national capital logged its first “satisfactory” reading of the 24-hour average air quality (AQI) in 282 days, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.