Light rainfall likely in Delhi this weekend

While rainfall was on the forecast on Thursday and Friday, only the weather observatory at Aya Nagar has recorded traces of rainfall on Thursday. The other observatories in the city remained dry over the past two days.

With cloudy skies and winds on Friday, the maximum temperature fell to around 30.4 degrees Celsius, which is around the normal for this time of the year, and well below the 34.3 degrees recorded on Wednesday. The maximum temperature is likely to fall to around 29 degrees on Saturday and further to around 28 degrees on Monday, the IMD forecast indicates. Going by the forecast, the maximum temperature over northwest India is likely to see a gradual fall by two to four degrees over the next three days and a rise by two to four degrees thereafter.

Partly cloudy skies are expected from March 21 to 23 next week, but the maximum temperature is set to return to around 33 degrees Celsius by March 23.

The rainfall that is expected over northwest India is on account of a western disturbance and an associated cyclonic circulation over southwest Rajasthan. An IMD forecast issued Friday night said that scattered to fairly widespread light or moderate rainfall along with thunderstorms, lightning and strong winds are likely over the Western Himalayan Region, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan from March 17 to 20.

Another western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from March 19 onwards, followed by one from March 22 onwards.

With only traces of rainfall this month, the Safdarjung weather station, which serves as a marker for the city, has recorded a 100% deficit in rainfall so far in March.