A sudden spell of rain lashed Delhi on Thursday evening, disrupting traffic and leading to the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah's participation in the Dussehra celebrations. As the heavy downpour threw Dussehra preparations into disarray, organisers of East Delhi's Indraprastha Ramlila Committee called off the Prime Minister’s visit just hours before his scheduled arrival to the venue. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier issued an orange alert for most parts of the city, warning of “moderate to intense” rain over southwest Delhi and adjoining Haryana. By Thursday evening, Pitampura had recorded the highest rainfall at 17.5 mm, followed by Ridge (15.4 mm) and Mayur Vihar (9.5 mm). Safdarjung, the city’s main weather station, logged only trace rainfall. The IMD has forecast a generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of light rain or thunderstorms in the coming days. “A fresh intense western disturbance is likely to cause heavy to very heavy rainfall over Northwest India during October 5-7, with peak intensity on October 6,” it said. For Delhi, moderate rain is likely on Friday morning or afternoon, followed by partly cloudy sky on Saturday. Showers are expected to return on Sunday. A yellow alert has been issued for October 6, with a forecast of light to moderate rain. Both day and night temperatures are also expected to drop, hovering between 22°Celsius and 33°Celsius, as per IMD. On Thursday, the maximum temperature stood at 35.7°Celsius, a degree below normal, while the minimum was 25.8°Celsius, 2.5°Celsius below normal. Meanwhile, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 123, in the "moderate" category, at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. On Wednesday, it was 130. The early warning system run by IITM has forecast that Delhi’s AQI will remain “moderate” until October 5, with a chance of improving to the “satisfactory” category in the following days.
