Delhi sees wettest January in four years, rainy start to February likely

New Delhi, Jan 28: The National Capital woke up to the wettest January morning in the last four years on Wednesday as heavy rain and thunderstorms affected parts of the national capital on Tuesday, drawing temperatures down drastically. In addition, the situation has led to a sudden deterioration in air quality, which plunged into the ‘very poor’ category. As per the CPCB data, Delhi AQI stood at 266 on Wednesday 8 am.

Although the rainfall is not expected to continue in the rest of the week, a forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) suggests that February will have a rainy start. As per the IMD predictions, drizzles will affect parts of the city on February 1.

In January till date, the city has recorded a total rainfall of 24 mm, which makes it the highest since 2022. The national capital received 19.8 mm of rainfall on January 23, and Tuesday’s spell added 4.2 mm at Safdarjung, along with a trace of rain at other stations till 5.30 pm, taking the cumulative January rainfall to 24 mm, the highest for the month in four years, as reported by news agency PTI.

On January 8, 2022, the city recorded rainfall of 40.6 mm, which is still the highest in recent years.

The rainfall brought a sudden change in temperature in several areas. At Safdarjung, considered Delhi’s base station, the maximum temperature settled at 16.9 degrees Celsius, 5.2 degrees Celsius below normal, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 8.0 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees Celsius below normal.

Following the rain and change in temperature, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told PTI, “Although the conditions for a cold day were met, with the maximum temperature dropping 4.5 to 6.4 degrees below normal and the minimum falling below 10 degrees Celsius, the day cannot be classified as a cold day, as temperatures are expected to rise again tomorrow. This is the first day of satisfying the criteria.”

According to the weather body’s observations, the average rainfall recorded between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on January 27 stood at 4.2 mm at Safdarjung, 14.6 mm at Palam, 3.4 mm at Lodi Road, 14.4 mm at Ridge and 4.0 mm at Ayanagar, while no rainfall was recorded at any station in the preceding 24 hours till 8.30 am.