Rain slows down Delhi traffic, yellow alert till Friday

New Delhi
Parts of the Capital on Tuesday received light to moderate rainfall, slowing down traffic on city roads throughout the day and leading to waterlogging on key roads in western and northern parts of the city. Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted more rainfall and gusty winds of 30kmph for the city, and issued a yellow alert till Friday.
The Safdarjung weather station, considered representative of Delhi weather, logged 5.6mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Tuesday. In the same period, the Palam weather station clocked 10.5mm of rainfall, Lodhi Road station 1mm, Ridge station 2mm and Ayanagar station 1.8mm. The Pitampura station recorded the highest rainfall in this period — 27mm.
Experts said a combination of weather systems is likely to bring significant rain to many parts of northern and central India till Friday, with Delhi also expected to see multiple spells of moderate rainfall.
“We have a depression over central India, a western disturbance forming and the monsoon trough. These weather systems will combine and bring adequate moisture for rain over Delhi-NCR in the next two to three days,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology.
The Delhi Traffic Police issued advisories to avoid certain stretches, a list that included Najafgarh Phirni Road, GT Karnal Road, Dabri roundabout and Outer Ring Road stretch from Peeragarhi to Vikaspuri.
Commuters said traffic in southern parts and southwestern parts of the city were also affected.
Amarjot Singh, who was travelling from Mehrauli towards IIT-Delhi said that even a light drizzle throws off traffic on this route. “Traffic was crawling around 3pm between IIT Delhi and Mehrauli. It took me around 30 minutes to complete a commute of around three kilometres,” Singh said.
In the 24 hours preceding 8.30am on Tuesday, the Safdarjung station recorded only “trace” rainfall, but the Ridge station clocked 22.6mm, DU station 22.5mm, Mayur Vihar station 21.5mm and Palam station 15.3mm.
Till Tuesday, Delhi recorded 79.5mm of rainfall in September, with chances of crossing the 100mm mark in the next three days. The normal long-period average for September rainfall is 123.4mm.
Delhi’s maximum temperature was 35.4°C on Tuesday, which was two degrees above the normal, and the minimum temperature was 25.2°C, which is around the normal. The maximum and minimum temperatures are forecast to be around 33°C and 24°C respectively on Wednesday.
Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) failed to recover, and was classified “moderate” with a reading of 106 on Tuesday. It was 117 (“moderate”) at the same time on Monday.