JOIN USIt was another day of relief for Delhiites from soaring temperatures as the national capital witnessed intermittent showers on Monday.
It was a pleasant day for the residents as the rainfall brought the mercury down with the maximum temperatures being recorded at 32.4 degrees Celsius, a significant eight degrees below normal for this part of the season. The minimum temperature was recorded at 23 degrees Celsius.
Monday was the third consecutive day of showers in the national capital. At the Palam observatory, the minimum and maximum temperatures were recorded at 22.4 and 34 degrees Celsius, seven degrees below normal, respectively. While the Safdarjung observatory recorded 4.9 ml rainfall, the one at Palam witnessed 8.0 ml.
Moderate to severe thunderstorms with all vertical clouds accompanied with stronger winds at Indira Gandhi international Airport caused 40 flight diversions from 8 pm on Monday till 4 am Tuesday morning.
With this, the total number of diversions due to bad weather reached to 85 flights in May, the highest so far for any May since 2005.
While there was a relief from the sweltering heat, commuters had a harrowing time with traffic snarls in the capital due to water logging. Especially in the morning rush hours, traffic moved at a snail’s pace on major intersections both due to Sunday night’s thunder showers and Monday’s morning rainfall.
Traffic jams on Monday were reported in several areas such as Nehru Place, near Qutub Minar Metro Station, Dhaula Kuan, Outer Ring Road, South Extension, and Ashram crossing among others.
“Traffic is heavy in the carriageway from Palam towards NSG Red Light due to water logging. Kindly avoid the stretch,” one of the several advisories issued by the Traffic Police said.
A total of 20 people were injured and a two and a half year old toddler was dead in separate incidents of house collapse.
The MeT office has predicted overnight showers and light rain rainfall on Tuesday morning as well. However, the temperatures will begin to soar again after Tuesday, according to the forecast.
The humidity oscillated between 98 and 64 per cent.
On Wednesday, the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 25 and 38 degrees Celsius.