Rain, thundershowers bring chill back to Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI) After a week of hot and sunny weather conditions, wet and chilly weather today returned to Delhi as moderate to heavy rains lashed the capital, resulting in a sharp fall in mercury.

The rainfall, coupled with cold Southwesterly winds, led to a sharp drop in maximum temperature in Delhi to 21.3 degrees Celsius, nine degrees below normal. The drastic fall in mercury, from 28.7 degrees Celsius yesterday, lent a chill in the air, after nearly a week of hot and sunny weather in Delhi in the post-Holi period.

The showers, which began late last night, followed an overcast sky since yesterday morning. While light to moderate rains were recorded till early this morning, Delhi was again lashed by a short burst of heavy rains in the afternoon.

Over 50 mm of rainfall was recorded since last night - while 20 mm of rainfall was recorded till 0830 hrs, over 30 mm of rain was recorded between 0830 hrs and 2030 hrs today.

The weathermen attributed the sudden turnaround in the weather in Delhi since yesterday to the influence of a fresh western disturbance.

The weathermen said the chill in the weather could prevail till Wednesday with a few more spells of rain and thundershowers expected in the next 24 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.

They have also forecast a maximum temperature of 22 degrees C tomorrow.

UNI