Rain brings back winter chill in Delhi, Monday to be same

Rain accompanied by cold winds on Sunday brought back the winter chill to the national capital and its adjoining areas which had turned unusually warm in recent days. The Met department has forecast similar weather for at least two more days.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the sudden change in weather was caused by western disturbances -- a weather system originating in the Mediterranean-Caspian Sea region and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, which brings rain or snow in the sub-Himalayan regions.

"Such sudden change occurs because of the western disturbances. With this change, there are always chances of cold wind, rain, thunderstorm and even snowfall in the affected areas," an IMD official said.

Though Delhi's minimum temperature on Sunday settled at 15.2 degrees Celsius -- three notches above the season's average -- the maximum was 19 degrees, eight notches below average.

Delhi received 17.2 mm of rainfall till 5.30 p.m. on Sunday, while its adjoining areas Gurgaon and Ghaziabad received 11 mm and 10 mm of rainfall, respectively.

"It has been raining in Gurgaon since early morning. The rain stopped in the afternoon for about an hour or so but it started drizzling again. The weather has all of a sudden turned cold," Shivangi, a 25-year-old research scholar from Gurgaon, told IANS.

People in Ghaziabad too were seen putting on woollen clothes following the dip in temperature.

"The constant rain since Saturday night has brought down the temperature here. I had to put on my sweater to overcome the chill," said Vivek Srivastava, a financial analyst from Ghaziabad, who, however, said he was enjoying the sudden change.

The Met department has forecast a cloudy Monday with rain accompanied by cold winds in many parts of the city.

"Delhi will see a rainy Monday. More cold wind is expected during the day while fog is expected in the evening," the IMD official said.

Monday's maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 20 degrees and 15 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Sunday's maximum humidity was 100 percent.

Saturday's minimum temperature settled at 12.6 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average, while the maximum was 29.2 degrees, four notches above average.