Moderate rains bring down mercury in Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI) After a week of warm and sunny weather in Delhi, moderate rains hit the capital since last night, bringing the mercury down by several degrees and lending coolness to the air.

The rains, which hit Delhi late last night, continued this morning and thundershowers accompanying them plummeted the maximum temperature by three to four degrees Celsius, from 28.7 degrees C yesterday. The rain and thundershowers followed an overcast sky in Delhi since yesterday morning.

About 18mm of rainfall was recorded in Delhi till 0830 hrs today.

Though the rain and thundershowers led to a dip in the maximum temperature, the cloud cover in the sky resulted in a rise in the minimum temperature to 15.6 degrees C, from the 13.8 degrees C yesterday.

The weatherman attributes the sudden turnaround in the weather in Delhi after a hot and sunny week to the influence of a fresh western disturbance.

The cool weather in Delhi and other parts of North-West India could prevail in the next few days with the weatherman forecasting more rain and thundershowers in plains of the North-West India, including Delhi, in the next 48 hours with some of them likely to be accompanied by hailstorms.

The Met office has forecast a generally cloudy sky in Delhi with rain and thundershowers during the next 24 hours. One or two spells of rain could also be accompanied by hailstorms and thundersqualls, it said.

UNI