Delhi weather today: Capital receives light rains; minimum temperature likely to increase

An update at 9 am from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said thunderstorms along with light to moderate intensity rainfall is likely in Delhi and parts of the NCR including Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Karnal, Panipat and Jhajjar, over the next two hours. Winds of around 20 to 30 kmph are also on the forecast.

With moisture from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal likely to continue feeding the western disturbance, cloudy skies and light rainfall remain on the forecast for Friday. A western disturbance is a storm that originates in the Mediterranean Sea or Caspian Sea and brings rainfall to northwest India in winter. According to the IMD, these storms are driven by the westerlies and travel across the middle-east. In January, active western disturbances brought rainfall in excess of the normal in Delhi.

Delhi weather today: A flock of birds in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Amit Mehra)

The minimum temperature is likely to increase by 2 to 3 degrees over parts of Northwest India during the next 24 hours, the IMD forecast indicates.

On Thursday, the minimum temperature is likely to be 11 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature could be around 19 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature recorded in the early hours of Thursday was 11 degrees Celsius, three degrees above the normal. Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Wednesday was 23.4 degrees Celsius, a degree above the normal.

Rainfall and strong winds are likely to enhance the dispersion of pollutants and bring an improvement in air quality, according to the SAFAR forecasting system. On Wednesday, the 24-hour average AQI was 319, in the ‘very poor’ category.