Delhi is likely to get a few more spells of light to moderate rain on Wednesday and the subsequent two-three days before the monsoon withdraws from the National Capital Region, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The precipitation over the next few days may help cover the large rain deficit (49 per cent in September alone) to some extent and keep the air clean and the temperature in check. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 25.1 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 34 degrees Celsius.
On Tuesday, the Ridge Road weather station gauged 88.8 millimetre of rainfall while the Delhi University area received 85.5 mm.
The weather bureau attributed the rainfall to lower-level moisture-laden easterly and southeasterly winds reaching up to Delhi-NCR due to a low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal and the presence of a Western Disturbance as a trough in mid-troposphere westerlies.
Light to moderate rain may occur in parts of Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday, the IMD said.
The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, has recorded just 52.9 mm of rainfall in September so far against a normal of 104.8mm.It had recorded just 41.6 mm rainfall in August, the lowest in at least 14 years, due to the absence of any favourable weather system in northwest India.
Overall, Delhi has recorded 405.3mm of rainfall against a normal of 621.7mm since June 1, when the monsoon season starts. The IMD on Tuesday said the southwest Monsoon has withdrawn from parts of southwest Rajasthan and adjoining Kutch, three days after the normal date of September 17.
Usually, it takes around a week for the monsoon to retreat from Delhi after it has withdrawn from west Rajasthan.
The withdrawal of the southwest monsoon is declared if there has been no rainfall in the region during the last five days along with the development of anti-cyclonic circulation, and water vapour imagery indicates dry weather conditions over the region.
(With PTI Inputs)
