Temp dips as Sunday showers drench Delhi

NEW DELHI: What started off as a hot day — the maximum temperature touched 26.4 degrees Celsius — quickly turned into one of the wettest this month with many parts of the city witnessing heavy showers followed by continuous drizzle for a few hours. The thundershowers on Sunday started around 4pm and by 5.30pm, the city had recorded 8.6mm rainfall. Waterlogging was reported from many areas while strong winds knocked down several trees across Delhi.
The high speed winds also caused some chaos at IGI airport.Sources said that at least two aircraft were forced to hover over the city as strong wind prevented flights from landing. Many aircraft were forced to take a detour and several flights were delayed. “Strong wind at a speed of over 55kmph also led to delay in boarding for those flights that were parked on remote bays as it would have been dangerous to have passengers on the airside in such weather. Many flights headed towards Delhi also deviated from their routes by as much as 25-30 nautical miles to avoid the aggressive weather system,” said an airline official.
There was fog in the morning due to which low visibility procedures were enforced for two hours from 7am to 9am. During this period, there were 60 operations under CAT-I conditions.
According to the Met department, a fresh western disturbance is approaching the western Himalayan region till February 22 and from the next day will affect the plains of northwest India. “The present WD is now moving eastwards and will continue to affect the capital till Monday morning. From Wednesday chances of more rain accompanied by squall and hailstorm will increase as another WD is heading this way. There will be fairly widespread activity over Punjab, Haryana and Delhi and scattered over east Rajasthan and west UP,” said a Met official.
“We were out for a family picnic at Lodhi Garden. And all of us had shed our woolens as it was so hot. Shortly before we left the place it had started becoming cloudy and then it started pouring. The evening also became quite chilly due to the cold winds,” said Sushma Raj, an interior decorator.
The minimum temperature on Sunday was 10.3 degrees Celsius, one degree below normal. “The minimum temperature is expected to fall by 2-3 degrees over the plains of northwest India and adjoining central India over the next 2-3 days,” said the official.
Adampur in Punjab remained the coldest place in the northwestern plains with a minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius. Most places in east UP, Bihar, Punjab, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Assam saw minimum temperatures 2-3 degrees below normal.