The weather department forecast thunderstorms with “light to moderate intensity rain” over many places of Delhi. Heavy rainfall lashed parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region, including Noida, on Saturday morning, bringing much-needed respite from sultry weather conditions experienced over the last few days. The Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC), New Delhi forecast thunderstorms with “light to moderate intensity rain with heavy intensity rain” over isolated places and gusty winds with a speed of 30-50 km/hour would occur over and adjoining areas of many places of Delhi, including Kanjhawala, Delhi University and Punjabi Bagh. Commuters out during heavy rain at Jaswant Singh Road near India Gate in New Delhi.
Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted thundershowers on Saturday, which will reduce to a light drizzle over the weekend. Visuals posted by news agency ANI show the sudden rain on Saturday morning drenched the revamped Central Vista Avenue (now Kartavya Path). The predominant surface wind is likely to come from the West of Delhi, with a wind speed 12-20 kmph, along with a cloudy sky and the possibility of drizzles, the IMD said. Meanwhile, the air quality of Delhi’s Anand Vihar stayed in the very poor category at 5 am on Saturday. However, the overall Delhi AQI is forecast to be satisfactory around the weekend. Delhi’s air quality was in the moderate category, with the average air quality index (AQI) being recorded at 148 (moderate) at 10am on Friday. It was 131 (moderate) at 4pm on Thursday. The CPCB classifies an AQI between 0-50 as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’ and over 400 as ‘severe’.