Light rains on Thursday, Delhi may see dry week ahead

The national capital saw light rains on Thursday, a day after heavy rains caused traffic snarls across the city, with the weather office saying the rainfall would cease gradually, leading to a dry week ahead.

As per weather office, while the maximum rainfall on Wednesday was 63.5 mm at Safdarjung, it dropped to 18.9 mm at Palam area on Thursday.

"The rainfall has dropped by several points in Delhi since Thursday and it will keep dropping in days to come for a week," an official at India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Thursday saw maximum humidity of 97 percent at 5.30 p.m and minimum of 77 per cent, while the maximum temperature hovered around 31 degree Celsius, three notches below the season's average. The minimum temperature was 25.2 degree Celsius, a notch below the season's average.

"The rainfall will cease slowly. Till September 7, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and most parts of Rajasthan will see a dry week," said Mahesh Palawat, director of private weather forecaster Skymet.

On Thursday, Palam recorded the maximum rainfall of 18.9 mm followed by 6.2 mm at Lodhi Road, 5.9 mm at Safdarjung area, 2.0 mm at Ridge area and 10.2 mm at Aya Nagar between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.

"Drizzles are expected on Friday and the day would remain generally cloudy," IMD said.

The maximum temperature on Friday is expected to hover around 33 degrees and minimum at 26 degrees.

As per the traffic department, there were few traffic snarls on Thursday.

"There was an accident at around 8.30 a.m. at Burari, so it caused a traffic jam but it was cleared by 10 a.m," an official said.

Traffic snarls were witnessed on roads leading to Gurgaon and the airport. Traffic was slow in many areas including ITO, Dhaula Kuan, Ridge Road, Sarai Kale Khan and Nizamuddin.

--IANS

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