New Delhi: Parts of the capital received light rain on Sunday, offering brief respite from the humid conditions that prevailed over the past week.The showers, accompanied by overcast skies, brought down the temperature marginally. Although light to moderate showers are expected on Monday, scattered light rain is predicted from Tuesday till the end of the month.According to India Meteorological Department, Safdarjung, which is the city’s base station, logged 6mm of rainfall from 8.30am to 5.30pm. During this period, Pusa received 11mm of rainfall, Ayanagar in south-west Delhi 9.9mm, Ridge in north Delhi 4mm, Lodhi Road 2.4mm, Rajghat 1.7mm, Palam 1.2mm and Mayur Vihar 0.5mm.Rain brought down the mercury, with the maximum temperature recorded at 32.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. This was 2.5 degrees lower than Saturday’s maximum temperature. The relative humidity oscillated between 77% and 100%. The minimum temperature settled at 23.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.“Moisture-laden easterly winds and localised cloud formation led to light rain in parts of Delhi. Similar conditions may persist in the city on Monday,” said an IMD official.The met department has not issued any colour-coded warning from Monday onwards. Another official said a spell of very light to light rain or thundershowers is likely at many places, with chances of moderate rain at isolated places on Sunday night. “There is a possibility of light to moderate rain or thundershowers on Monday, but very light to light rain is expected thereafter,” said the official.The maximum temperature is likely to stay around 30-32 degrees Celsius on Monday while the minimum temperature is predicted to hover around 21-23 degrees Celsius.August has so far recorded 303.5mm of rainfall, an excess over the monthly normal mark of 233.1mm. During the ongoing monsoon season, Delhi has received 45% excess rainfall in June and 24% excess rainfall in July.The city’s air quality, meanwhile, on Sunday improved to the ‘satisfactory’ category with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 97. It was 102 in the ‘moderate’ category a day earlier. According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the forecasting body under the Union ministry of earth sciences, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘satisfactory’ range for the next few days.
