New Delhi: A dust storm hit the national capital on Wednesday evening with a wind speed of 60-70 kmph, followed by light rain, bringing down the temperature substantially.

Though, the mercury dip brought much-needed relief to Delhiites reeling under intense heat for the past few days, it led to a halt in the operations at Delhi's IGI Airport.

Flight operations at the Delhi International Airport were suspended for around 35 minutes as a severe dust storm hit the city Wednesday evening, airport officials were quoted by PTI as saying.

Total 27 flights diverted from Delhi airport till 7.50 pm Wednesday due to severe dust storm, they said.

The duststorm impacted the flight operations which were halted since 6.36 pm. Till 7.15 pm, nine flights were diverted from the airport to other cities.

According to private weather forecaster Skymet, western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir led to the dust storm over Delhi and the adjoining areas of Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.
The air quality, however, continued to remain in the poor category.

The maximum temperature at Safdarjung observatory was recorded at 41.6 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average. However, the temperature fell sharply to 29.8 degrees Celsius at 7.30 pm after the thunderstorm hit the city.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average.

The Palam observatory recorded a high of 43.4 degrees Celsius and a low of 32.4 degrees Celsius.

Humidity levels oscillated between 49 per cent and 32 per cent.

The weatherman has forecast partly cloudy sky and possibility of very light rain for Thursday. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 43 and 29 degrees Celsius respectively.

Private weather forecaster Skymet Weather said parts of Delhi and NCR could also see "heavy showers".

On Tuesday, the maximum temperature in the city was 44.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees above the season's average.