Delhi sees sharp drop in max, min temperatures

New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) The national capital saw a sharp drop in the maximum and minimum temperatures on Friday, after parts of the city received light to moderate rain in the early hours of the day due to a western disturbance.

Safdarjung, the city’s base weather station, saw a drop of 3.7 degrees in the minimum temperature, which settled at 26 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was recorded at 35.8 degrees Celsius, 4.2 degrees below the normal.

Safdarjung also recorded 0.1 mm of rain between 2.30 am and 5.30 am on Friday. No further rain was recorded after that till 5.30 pm on Friday, as per data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Other weather stations also showed a similar drop in the temperature.

Palam recorded a minimum temperature

of 22 degrees Celsius, 6.2 degrees below the normal. The maximum at Palam was 35.6 degrees Celsius, 5.4 degrees below the normal.

The temperature dropped to 25.2 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, while it was 23.1 degrees Celsius at Ridge. The maximum at Lodhi Road was 35.4 degrees Celsius, while at Ridge, it was 35.2 degrees Celsius.

Ayanagar recorded a six-degree drop in the maximum temperature, which was clocked at 34.6 degrees Celsius, 7.5 degrees below the normal.

According to IMD data, Palam received 2.9 mm of rain between 5.30 am and 8.30 am; Ridge recorded 4 mm of rain between 11.30 pm on Thursday and 2.30 am on Friday; Ayanagar recorded 4.2 mm of rain in the early hours.

No further rain was recorded till 5.30 pm.

No alert has been issued for the weekend, despite the forecast for rain.

“Light rain is expected in parts of Delhi, along with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds of speed 40-50 kmph, even gusting to 60 kmph,” said an IMD official.

The maximum temperature is expected to be around 35-37 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while the minimum is likely to be around 24-26 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the air quality of the city remained in the moderate category, and the 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was clocked at 131 (moderate) at 4 pm on Friday, as compared to 164 (moderate) recorded at the same time on Thursday, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.

As per CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’. PTI AHD AHD AMJ AMJ