With little rain this month, Delhi has recorded an 87% deficit in rainfall for September so far.
The Safdarjung weather station, which provides a marker for the city, has recorded only 8.8 mm of rainfall on a single day so far this month. This is against a normal of 70 mm till September 10, marking a large deficit of 87%. The weather observatory at Palam has recorded no rainfall at all this month, while Lodhi Road has recorded the highest amount of 18 mm, 74% below the normal.
Consequently, Delhi has been seeing warm and humid days this month, with the maximum temperature remaining above normal. The maximum temperature on Friday, for instance, settled at 37.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the normal for this time of the year at the Safdarjung weather station. The maximum temperature at Safdarjung has remained above 35 degrees Celsius for all days of the month so far. At Najafgarh, the maximum temperature was close to 40 degrees Celsius on Friday, settling at 39.3 degrees. The CWG Sports Complex recorded a similarly high temperature of 39.4 degrees on Friday.
The minimum temperature recorded early on Saturday was also above normal – 27.6 degrees Celsius, which is two degrees above the normal for this time of the year.
According to a bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday evening, the maximum humidity recorded over the past 24 hours was as high as 85%. The relative humidity at 8.30 am on Saturday was only a little lower, standing at 82%.
The rainfall deficit for this month comes close on the heels of a large deficit in rainfall recorded for the month of August.
All districts except for East Delhi have recorded a deficit in rainfall from June 1 to September 9. East Delhi has recorded rainfall that falls within the normal range. Northeast Delhi and West Delhi have recorded large deficits in rainfall, while all other districts have recorded a deficit.
The IMD said in a bulletin on Friday that subdued rainfall activity is likely to continue over the plains of Northwest India for the next five days. Only light or very light rainfall is on the forecast for Delhi for the next six days.
Light rainfall is on the forecast for the weekend. While heavy rainfall is not on the forecast for next week either, strong winds and light rainfall could bring the maximum temperature down to around 30 degrees Celsius by September 15.
