New Delhi: Delhi is likely to get a few spells of rain on Wednesday and the subsequent two-three days before the monsoon withdraws from the National Capital Region, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. This may help the city cover the large rain deficit (49 per cent in September alone) to some extent and keep the air clean and the temperature in check, according to PTI.
The minimum temperature settled at 25.1 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, while the day temperature also remained comfortable at around 34 degrees Celsius.
The Met department attributed the rainfall to lower-level moisture-laden easterly and southeasterly winds reaching up to Delhi-NCR due to a low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal and the presence of a Western Disturbance as a trough in mid-troposphere westerlies, PTI reported.
In September, only 52.9 mm of rainfall has been recorded so far by the Safdarjung Observatory which is only a little over half the normal amount of 104.8 mm. The capital's primary weather station had recorded just 41.6 mm of rainfall in August, the lowest in at least 14 years, due to the absence of any favourable weather system in northwest India.
Overall, Delhi has recorded 405.3 mm of rainfall against a normal of 621.7mm since June 1, when the monsoon season starts.
The IMD on Tuesday said the southwest Monsoon has withdrawn from parts of southwest Rajasthan and adjoining Kutch, three days after the normal date of September 17. Usually, it takes around a week for the monsoon to retreat from Delhi after it has withdrawn from west Rajasthan.
The withdrawal of the southwest monsoon is declared if there has been no rainfall in the region during the last five days along with the development of anti-cyclonic circulation, and if the water vapour imagery indicates dry weather conditions over the region.
(With PTI inputs)