Amid Bone-Chilling Cold Delhi Witnesses Heavy Rainfall, Thunder Lashes NCR For Second Consecutive Day

The national capital is witnessing moderate to heavy rainfall from the wee hours of Sunday morning and the rainfall is expected to continue till the first half of the day.

Delhi woke up to another chilly morning as heavy rainfall continued to lash the national capital and NCR for the second consecutive day today. Rainfall is expected to continue in the first half of the day with lightning and thunderstorm. Delhi-NCR is likely to witness light to heavy rainfall in some parts.

Delhi: The national capital wakes up to a rainy morning; visuals from Green Park (pic 1&2) and Chandni Chowk (pic 3&4) areas. pic.twitter.com/O5suBOi83y

— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2021

#WATCH I Delhi: Rain lashes parts of the national capital; visuals from near Barakhamba Road pic.twitter.com/hMjERKdvCX

— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2021

The minimum temperature in Delhi is likely to rise to 9 degrees Celsius in the next two to three days under the influence of the western disturbance, India Meteorological Department said. Delhi had yesterday recorded the minimum temperature to 7 degrees Celsius due to a cloud cover over the city, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

At 441, the air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded in the 'severe' category for the second day in a row. The monitoring stations in many parts of the city including ITO, Mandir Marg, Sirifort, RK Puram, and Punjabi Bagh showed the AQI in 'severe' category.

"Moderate" fog lowered visibility to 201 metres at Safdarjung. A Met official said 1.2 mm rain was recorded at Safdarjung and Lodhi Road after 8.30 am. The maximum temperature was recorded at 19.2 degrees Celsius, he said.

On Friday, the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years for January, and "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres. On January 8, 2006, the city had recorded a minimum of 0.2 degree Celsius. The all-time record is minus 0.6 degree Celsius registered in January 1935.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said the minimum temperature has started rising under the influence of the "intense" western disturbance, which will affect northwest India till January 6.