Delhi and its neighbouring cities received light rain on Saturday evening, which improved the air quality to ‘poor’ on Sunday morning and provided some relief from the dense fog that was blanketing parts of the national capital region for the past few days.

Delhi on Saturday recorded a low of 7.7 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature settled at 17 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The thick layer of fog on Saturday led to the delay of at least 45 trains.

Cold wave conditions continue in other parts of north India, including Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, with temperatures falling below freezing point.

Delhi and its neighbouring cities such as Ghaziabad and Noida received rain on Saturday evening.

The IMD has predicted a generally cloudy sky with light rain on Sunday.

On Saturday, Delhi-NCR woke up to dense fog in some areas, which led to 45 trains running late, however, flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) remained mostly normal.

The Air Quality Index of Delhi, which was in the range of ‘severe’ to ‘very poor’ for the last few days, improved to the ‘poor’ category on Sunday morning.

As per Centre’s Sameer app, Delhi’s overall AQI at around 5 a.m. on Sunday stood at 285.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good,” 51-100 “satisfactory,” 101-200 “moderate,” 201-300 “poor,” 301-400 “very poor,” and 401-500 “severe”.

Cold wave continued in Himachal Pradesh, with the local meteorological department predicting moderate rain in low-lying plains and snow in isolated areas in middle and high hills, including Shimla and Manali, on Saturday and Sunday.

A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from the night of January 14, 2025, the MeT said and also predicted light rain and snow in isolated places in middle and high hills on Thursday and Friday.

Talking about the anti-pollution measures in the national capital, currently GRAP I, II and III are in effect.

CAQM in compliance with Supreme Court’s earlier order, invoked actions under Stage III of GRAP on Thursday.

The centre’s air quality panel said, “The AQI of Delhi which was recorded as 297 on January 8, 2025, exhibited a sharp increasing trend and has been recorded as 357 at 4 p.m. on January 9 owing to calm winds and foggy conditions.”

CAQM added, “The Sub Committee on GRAP hereby decide to invoke all actions under StageIII (‘Severe’Air Quality of Delhi) of revised Schedule of GRAP, with immediate effect in right earnest by all the agencies concerned in Delhi-NCR, in addition to the Stage-l and II actions already in force.”

Furthermore, it advised all the agencies to keep strict vigil and intensify measures of the revised GRAP schedule to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further. It assured that the sub-committee is closely monitoring the situation and will review the situation from time to time for further appropriate decisions depending upon the Air Quality in Delhi and the forecast made by IMD/IITM.

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Rain lashed Delhi-NCR throughout Friday with the city recording its highest December rainfall in the last 15 years and the mercury dropping sharply to 14.6 degree celsius, the weather department said.

The rain began late Thursday around 2.30 am and continued throughout the day, it said.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data between in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Friday, the city logged 9.1 mm of rainfall.

The observatory at Safdarjung — the national capital’s primary weather station — recorded an additional 30.2 mm of rainfall between from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Friday, as per the data.

The total rainfall for December stands at 42.8 mm, marking the highest rainfall this month in the last 15 years, based on data from 2009 to 2024 available on the weather department’s website.

Meanwhile, the all-time highest December rainfall was recorded in 1884, when the city received 134.4 mm of rain.

The observatory at Palam registered 31.4 mm rainfall, 34.2 mm in Lodhi Road, 33.4 mm in Ridge, 39 mm in Delhi University and 35 mm in Pusa till 5:30 pm on Friday.

For comparison, the city’s December rainfall in 2023 was trace, while in 2022 it was 0.0 mm, 2021 saw 9.6 mm, and 2020 recorded just 1.6 mm. In 2019, Delhi recorded 33.9 mm of rainfall in December, which now stands as the second-highest in the last 15 years.

Met officials said an active western disturbance and its interaction with easterly winds were causing light to moderate rainfall and thunderstorms over northwest and central India, including the NCR areas of Delhi.

The rain caused waterlogging and traffic snarls in many areas across the city, with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Central Control Room receiving a total of 13 complaints, nine for waterlogging and four for fallen trees.

The Public Works Department (PWD) received one call for waterlogging and one for a fallen tree, the officials said. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) said that by 7 PM they had not received any calls regarding waterlogging or fallen trees.

Mercury also dropped to 9.5 degree celsius, because of the rain, marking the lowest maximum temperature in the last five years. On Thursday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 24.1 degree celsius, according to data from the IMD.

The IMD data showed that in 2023 the lowest daytime temperature drop in December was 15.9 degree Celsius, 15.6 degree Celsius in December, 2022, 17.8 degree Celsius in 2021, 15.2 degree Celsius 2020 and in 14.3 degree Celsius in 2019.

The department said a generally cloudy sky with intermittent rain is likely on Saturday.

Additionally, one or two spells of light rain is expected during the early morning to forenoon, followed by a cloudy sky for the rest of the day, it added.

The predominant surface wind is expected to be from the southeast direction with a speed of less than 4 kmph during the morning hours. Smog or shallow fog is expected in most areas, with moderate fog in isolated places during the morning, the weather office said.

The wind speed is expected to increase, reaching less than 8 kmph from the northeast direction during the afternoon, before decreasing to less than 4 kmph from the northeast during the evening and night. Smog or shallow fog is also likely in the evening and night, it added.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle at 15 and 12 degree celsius, respectively, it said.

The 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 353 at 4 pm on Friday and of the 35 monitoring stations, one at Nehru Nagar recorded air quality in the “severe” category, while the rest were in the “very poor” and “poor” categories, the data from the SAMEER app showed.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Parts of Delhi-NCR experienced rainfall on Sunday evening, with the weather department predicting more rain in isolated areas of the city.

Some areas of West Delhi, Outer North Delhi and Gurugram received rain.

In its latest forecast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said light rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Delhi, including Rajouri Garden, Patel Nagar, Buddha Jayanti Park, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Najafgarh, Delhi Cantonment and parts of the National Capital Region (NCR).

A Western Disturbance is roughly situated along 70°E, to the north of latitude 30°N, with an induced cyclonic circulation lying over north Rajasthan and its neighbourhood. Light rainfall in Delhi-NCR is likely under the influence of these systems, the weather department has said.

“One or two spells of very light to light rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, are likely over Delhi-NCR during the next 12 hours,” it has said.

The department has also forecast moderate to dense fog on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded its second-lowest daytime temperature of the winter season so far on Sunday at 23.7 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 23.7 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, compared to 25.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the weather department.

The lowest maximum temperature of the season so far was recorded on November 18, when it dropped to 23.5 degrees Celsius.

Humidity levels fluctuated between 97 per cent and 68 per cent during the day.

According to the IMD, the maximum and minimum temperatures on Monday are likely to hover around 27 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius respectively.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A bank manager and a cashier were killed after their SUV was submerged in water in a flooded underpass in Faridabad on Friday. Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) have been witnessing heavy rain and the underpass was flooded because of that. 

Police said Punyashreya Sharma, who was the manager of HDFC Bank’s branch in Gurugram’s Sector 31 and Viraj Dwivedi, who was a cashier there, were returning home to Faridabad in a Mahindra XUV700 on Friday evening. They reached the Old Faridabad railway underpass and saw that it was flooded but failed to gauge how high the water was.

After the SUV started getting submerged, the two men tried to get out of the vehicle and swim to safety, but drowned. Police officials said a team reached the underpass on getting information about an SUV  being stuck there and while Sharma’s body was pulled out of the vehicle, Dwivedi’s body was found only at 4 am on Saturday after an hours-long search. 

Heavy rain had continued In Delhi and the National Capital Region for the second straight day on Friday. An orange alert (for heavy to very heavy rainfall) had been issued by the India Meteorological Department for both Thursday and Friday in Delhi and the weather office said a depression over southwest Uttar Pradesh was causing the rain. 

Traffic jams and waterlogging were reported in several parts of NCR on Friday. In Gurugram, the affected areas included Hero Honda chowk, Rajiv chowk and IFFCO chowk. 

Spells of rain continued on Saturday and a yellow alert (for moderate rainfall) is in place. According to IMD data, Delhi has seen over 1,000 mm of rainfall this month, which is the highest since 2021 and the second highest in at least a decade. 

New Delhi:

Delhi in August received 378.5 mm of rainfall — the city’s highest in 12 years, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The Safdarjung Observatory registered 378.5 mm of rainfall till Thursday, surpassing the previous high of 321.4 mm recorded in August 2013, the IMD said.

The highest precipitation in last 15 years was recorded in 2010 when the city received 455.1 mm of rainfall, IMD data shows.

The second-highest was in 2012, with 378.8 mm, followed by 321.4 mm in 2013. This third-highest mark was surpassed on August 29, 2023.

The all-time record for August rainfall in Delhi stands at 583.3 mm in 1961, according to the IMD data.

After the early morning shower on Thursday, the Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s primary weather station, recorded 77 mm of rainfall bringing the total rainfall for the monsoon season to 825.5 mm.

This figure has already exceeded Delhi’s annual average rainfall of 762.3 mm.

According to Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather Services, Delhi’s annual average rainfall is 762.3 mm and the city has already received 825.5 mm so far.

The MeT department has issued a “yellow” alert for Delhi for Thursday. It denotes bad weather and the possibility of worsening conditions that could disrupt daily life, according to the IMD’s colour-coded warnings.

The IMD has predicted a cloudy sky with moderate rain for Thursday, with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to hover around 34 and 23 degrees Celsius respectively.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Three children were rescued from a school bus that got stuck in the waterlogged Minto Bridge underpass in northwest Delhi on Tuesday following morning rain, officials said.0

An autorickshaw was also stuck in the underpass, they said.

#WATCH | Delhi: Severe waterlogging witnessed on Minto Road after incessant rainfall in the national capital. pic.twitter.com/7SUAMu48iy

— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2024

Traffic Advisory

Due to water logging under Minto Bridge, traffic diversions are effective. Kindly follow the advisory.#DPTrafficAdvisorypic.twitter.com/ogI7Svs8t8

— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) August 20, 2024

According to the officials, no one was injured in any of the incidents as rescue teams quickly reached the spot.

The water is being pumped out, an official said.

Further details of the two incidents are awaited.

The Minto Bridge underpass is infamous for waterlogging during monsoon. In July 2020, a man drowned after his mini-truck got stuck in the underpass.

Rains lashed Delhi on Tuesday morning, leaving large parts of the city waterlogged and disrupting traffic movement.

The Ridge observatory recorded 72.4 mm of rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative data for the national capital, recorded 28.7 mm of rainfall, Lodhi Road 25.6 mm and Ayanagar 2.2 mm.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Heavy rain lashed many parts of the national capital on Sunday afternoon, leading to waterlogging and traffic snarls in several areas as the weather office predicted more showers in the Delhi-NCR area in the evening.

The city recorded a low of 26 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is likely to settle at 32.0 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The humidity was recorded at 92 per cent at 8.30 am.

The IMD has issued an ‘orange’ alert for the city that signifies ‘being prepared’ for extremely bad weather and potential disruptions to transport, rail and road.

Central, south, southwest and east Delhi received heavy rainfall today as the latest weather alert from the weather department predicted more showers in the Delhi-NCR areas towards the end of the day.

“Moderate to heavy rainfall, accompanied by moderate thunderstorms and lightning, is very likely to occur across Delhi and NCR in the next two hours,” the weather officer said.

The IMD has also issued an advisory for Delhiites urging them to stay indoors, secure windows and doors and refrain from unnecessary travel.

“Seeking safe shelter and avoiding tree cover are recommended to mitigate risks,” the IMD cautioned.

The Delhi Traffic Police informed about traffic disruptions due to waterlogging in several areas.

“Traffic is affected on Najafgarh-Phirni road near Dhansa Stand and Bahadurgarh Stand. Please avoid these stretches and plan your journey accordingly,” the traffic police said in a post on X.

In another post shared with a picture of a road submerged in water due to rain, the police said that traffic was disrupted on Najafgarh Phirni road due to waterlogging and the breakdown of three cluster buses near Chhawla Stand.

According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, they received 12 complaints at the Central Control Room (HQ) between 6 am and 2 pm.

According to data released by the MCD, seven calls were received regarding waterlogging at different locations and four about fallen trees. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

India is predicted to record above-normal rainfall in August and September, with a good chance of favourable La Nina conditions developing by the end of August, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

Prediction of above-normal rain means there’s a high possibility of landslides and floods.

The monsoon is critical for India’s agricultural landscape, with 52 per cent of the net cultivated area relying on it. The primary rain-bearing system is also crucial for replenishing reservoirs critical for drinking water and power generation across the country.

The IMD said that rainfall over India in August and September would be around 106 per cent of the long-period average of 422.8 mm.

The country has so far recorded 453.8 mm of rainfall against the normal of 445.8 mm since June 1, a surplus of two per cent, owing to a wetter-than-normal July after a drier June.

Normal to above-normal rainfall is predicted in most parts of the country in August-September. Below-normal rainfall is expected in parts of the northeast, adjoining east India, Ladakh, Saurashtra and Kutch, and pockets of central and peninsular India, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said during an online press conference.

The IMD chief anticipated deficient rainfall in parts of western Himalayan region in August-September.

La Nina, a buildup of cooler-than-normal waters in the central Pacific Ocean aiding monsoon rainfall in the Indian subcontinent, could set in by August end, he said.

Mohapatra said above-normal maximum temperatures are expected over most parts of the country. “Normal to below-normal maximum temperatures are likely in some areas in the Gangetic plains, central India, and the southeast coast of India.” India recorded nine per cent more rainfall than normal in July, with the central region receiving 33 per cent excess rain.

Mohapatra said that central India, which heavily relies on monsoon rainfall for agriculture, has been receiving good rainfall for the third consecutive monsoon season, benefiting agriculture.

East and northeast India recorded a rainfall deficit of 23 per cent and northwest India 14 per cent. The southern peninsula received 36 per cent more rainfall in July.

IMD data showed significant rainfall deficits in east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, and parts of the northeast. However, good rainfall is expected in the region in August and September.

According to IMD data, the rainfall deficit in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir ranged from 35 per cent to 45 per cent.

Mohapatra said central and southern India got surplus rain as the monsoon trough remained south of its normal position on most days.

The Indian monsoon is characterised by inherent fluctuations and changes that occur over time due to various natural factors. This is called natural variability.

However, research shows climate change is making the monsoon more variable. Increased variability means more extreme weather and dry spells.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:
Delhi Rain: Heavy rainfall brought Delhi to a standstill yesterday, causing severe waterlogging in several parts of the national capital.

Here are 10 points on this big story:

New Delhi:

Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced that all schools in the national capital, both government and private, will remain closed today in view of heavy rainfall.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that clouds had converged over Delhi from all directions, prompting an advisory for residents to avoid unnecessary travel.

Delhi and its adjoining National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday evening witnessed heavy rain providing relief from the humid weather. However, the downpour resulted in traffic congestion throughout the city.

Waterlogging was reported in several places. Several airlines have issued advisories about flights being diverted or asking passengers to leave early and check the status of their flights. 

According to the IMD, intermittent showers are likely in Delhi till August 5.

Here are the Live Updates On Delhi Rain:

Delhi Schools To Remain Shut Today After Heavy Rain And Waterlogging

Several houses collapsed in parts of Delhi and one person was reported trapped in Chandni Chowk’s Sadar Bazar after the national capital saw heavy rain on Wednesday evening. With the weather office saying that clouds have converged over the city “from all four sectors”, at least 10 flights headed to Delhi, including one from Tokyo, were diverted, and vehicles were also stuck on flooded roads in some areas. Read more

• The IMD has cautioned that the showers are likely to cause slippery roads, low visibility, traffic disruptions, and localised waterlogging in low-lying areas.
• According to the IMD, intermittent showers are likely in Delhi till August 5.

• Rain lashed several parts of Delhi and its adjoining National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday evening, providing relief from the humid weather. However, the downpour resulted in traffic congestion throughout the city.
• Due to the bad weather, Delhi witnessed 10 flight diversions reported between 7.30 pm and 8pm, according to airport sources.
• Severe waterlogging was witnessed near AIIMS after incessant rainfall in the national capital.
• Traffic jams were also witnessed in the ITO area of Delhi after rain lashed the city.

• Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced that all schools in the national capital, both government and private, will remain closed today in view of heavy rainfall.
• Taking to her official handle on microblogging site X, Atishi posted on Wednesday, “In light of the very heavy rainfall today evening and the forecast of heavy rainfall tomorrow, all schools–government and private–will remain closed tomorrow.”
• Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi also posted on her X handle and said that all schools under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will remain closed on August 1 in view of the forecast of adverse weather conditions.