Sudden wind change deprives Delhi of rain; likely to return and bring temperature down

New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) Delhiites woke up to light showers and a cloudy sky on Wednesday morning with the rain expected to return by night and may continue till Thursday morning.

"Due to a sudden change in the wind movement, rains moved away from central Delhi on Wednesday," an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

He added that there is a high possibility of rain from Wednesday night which will continue till at least Thursday morning.

The little rain on Wednesday morning (0.8 mm) did not have any impact on the temperature. Instead, it increased humidity in the air to 100 per cent. 

The maximum temperature on Wednesday reached 25.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average while the minimum increased to 12 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.

"The last time it was this hot on February 6 was in 2014 when the maximum was recorded at 25 degrees Celsius," the IMD official said.

High humidity and little rain also deteriorated the national capital's air quality to 'very poor' at 352 with the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) predicting it to "oscillate between poor and very poor for the next three days".

In the national capital region, Ghaziabad (at 366), Greater Noida (at 358), and Noida (at 369) also fell into the 'very poor' category.

According to the IMD, it will be generally cloudy on Thursday morning with chances of light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorm or hailstorm and strong winds. "If rain occurs, the maximum temperature is expected to drop two notches and hover around 21 degrees and the minimum might increase 3-4 notches and touch 13 degrees Celsius," a Met official said.