Delhi Weather Update: National Capital records highest December rainfall in 15 years, temperature drops to 14.6°C
Delhi Weather Update: Heavy rain lashed Delhi-NCR on Friday, marking the highest December rainfall in the last 15 years. The temperature in the city dropped to 14.6 degrees Celsius, according to the weather department. The rain, which started late Thursday around 2:30 am, continued throughout the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported. In the last 24 hours, till 8:30 AM on Friday, Delhi recorded 9.1 mm of rain. Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s main weather station, received an additional 30.2 mm of rain from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM on Friday.
Total rainfall for December has now reached 42.8 mm, the highest for the month in the past 15 years, based on data from 2009 to 2024. In comparison, Delhi’s rainfall in December 2023 was negligible, and in 2022, it was zero. The all-time record for December rainfall was set in 1884, when the city recorded 134.4 mm.
Palam Observatory received 31.4 mm, Lodhi Road 34.2 mm, Ridge 33.4 mm, Delhi University 39 mm, and Pusa 35 mm of rain at 5:30 PM on Friday. In 2019, the city received 33.9 mm of rain, making it the second-highest December rainfall in the past 15 years.
Met officials said the continuous rain is due to a prevailing western disturbance accompanied by easterly winds, which is causing light to moderate rain and thundershowers over northwest and central India, including Delhi NCR.
The rain has led to waterlogging in many areas. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s Central Control Room received 13 complaints, nine of water leakage and four of fallen trees. The Public Works Department (PWD) received one complaint of waterlogging and another of a fallen tree, while the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) reported no problems at 7 PM.
The mercury also dropped to 9.5 degree celsius, marking the lowest temperature in five years. On Thursday, the maximum temperature was 24.1 degrees celsius. For context, in December 2023, the lowest daytime temperature was 15.9 degrees celsius, and in 2022 it was 15.6 degrees celsius.
The IMD has predicted generally cloudy skies with few spells of rain on Saturday. One or two light showers are expected in the morning, followed by cloudy weather for the rest of the day. Winds will be light, coming from the southeast at a speed of less than 4 km/h during the morning, with smoke or shallow fog in many places, and moderate fog in isolated places. Wind speeds will increase to less than 8 km/h in the afternoon, then decrease again in the evening.
Saturday’s maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be 15 degrees celsius and 12 degrees celsius respectively.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) for 24 hours at 4 PM on Friday was 353. Of the 35 monitoring stations, one in Nehru Nagar has recorded “severe” air quality, while others are in the “very poor” or “poor” categories. , according to the SAMEER app. An AQI of 0-50 is considered “good,” 51-100 “satisfactory,” 101-200 “moderate,” 201-300 “poor,” 301-400 “very poor,” and 401-500 “severe.”
According to PTI
