NEW DELHI: Strong winds and high-intensity rain brought the mercury down in Delhi on Friday evening. It provided much-needed respite to the national capital, which had been reeling under sweltering heat for the past few weeks.However, the rain led to waterlogging and threw traffic out of gear on some stretches in the city. Traffic was affected on the NH-48 IGI Airport stretch due to waterlogging near the Rangpuri intersection and also on Captain Gaur Marg on the stretch between Modi Mill and Lajpat Nagar after an uprooted tree obstructed the way, said Delhi Traffic Police.Till 5.30pm on Friday, Safdarjung, the city’s base station, saw a rainfall of 6.8mm, Palam 15.2mm, Lodhi Road 3.8mm and Mayur Vihar 7mm.Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist, India Meteorological Department, said that south-westerly winds fed additional moisture from cyclone Biparjoy, which, coupled with high temperatures during the afternoon, led to formation of clouds and later led to rain from around 3.30pm.The wind speed at Safdarjung reached up to 50kmph, the weather scientist added.On Friday, the maximum temperature at Safdarjung was 38.6 degrees Celsius compared with 37.7 degrees Celsius a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 27.9 degrees Celsius as against 26.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday. The humidity in the capital oscillated between 87% and 42%.Similar weather conditions are likely to continue for the next few days. The maximum temperature on Saturday may hover around 39 degrees Celsius. By Sunday, it is likely to plummet to 35 degrees Celsius.Early this week, a private forecasting agency had said that light rain may occur in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and west Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and Friday under the influence of Cyclone Biparjoy. After churning across the Arabian Sea for more than 10 days, Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday.Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality continues to be ‘moderate’. The air quality index, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 119 as against 154 a day earlier. 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’.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-reaps-joy-of-cyclone-gets-relief-from-heat/articleshow/101052778.cms