Monsoon may arrive in Delhi in 48 hours, rain likely today too

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited southwest monsoon is set to arrive in Delhi within the next 48 hours, according to IMD. The arrival of rains close to the normal onset date of June 27 is good news for the capital, which has been under a spell of oppressive heat.
Last year, the monsoon had arrived in Delhi on June 30.
The weather department has also issued an orange alert for rain in Delhi on Sunday with the possibility of moderate to heavy rain while a yellow alert - i.e.for light to very light rain at isolated places - has been issued for Saturday evening and night, Monday and Tuesday.
Maximum temp likely to drop to 32°C in two days
Weather scientists said meteorological conditions are now favourable for further advancement of the southwest monsoon over parts of Maharashtra, UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, east Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi over the next two days.
“Over the next five days, isolated parts of Delhi-NCR may receive heavy rain while a larger area may get a moderate spell,” said IMD scientist Kuldeep Srivastava. He pointed out that the favourable meteorological conditions for the possible arrival of monsoon in Delhi by Monday are the easterly winds and a generally cloudy sky prevailing over a large region of western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-NCR.
“We also expect an overcast sky along with rain activity in a large region over the next three-four days. As of now, the monsoon has entered eastern Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. From eastern UP, it will travel to parts of western UP and then reach Delhi-NCR,” said Srivastava. The city saw an overcast sky on Saturday with a slight drop in the maximum temperature. The weather department expects the maximum temperature to fall further on Sunday and Monday.
On Saturday, the city’s base station, Safdarjung, recorded a maximum temperature of 37.2oC, a notch below normal against 37.7oC a day earlier. The minimum temperature was recorded at 30.4oC, two notches below normal against 27.4oC a day earlier.
The humidity oscillated between 81% and 52%. The maximum temperature on Sunday is likely to hover around 35oC, but on Monday, it is likely to drop to 32oC. Meanwhile, the air quality remained moderate. The AQI, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 169 against 132 a day earlier.