Moderate showers in Delhi, mercury drops to 35 deg C

New Delhi, Jun 13 (UNI) After light rains yesterday, Delhi was today hit by moderate rains even as the weatherman said Monsoon in the city was just round the corner.

The showers, which lashed the capital city this afternoon, followed a heavily overcast sky since yesterday.

Coupled with North Westerly winds, the showers brought down the mercury by a few degrees, providing relief to Delhiites from the perspiring conditions of the past few days.

The maximum dropped from 35.2 degrees Celsius yesterday to 33 degrees, seven degrees below normal.

Earlier, high humidity levels brought about by cloudy weather conditions had led to a rise in minimum temperature to 29 degrees.

Though only a total of 4.2 mm rains were recorded in the city, more showers could be in the offing in the coming days with the weatherman forecasting increase in rainfall activity over Delhi and other parts of Northwest India during the next two to three days.

''The current Meteorological analysis suggest fairly widespread rainfall activity over Northwest and adjoining Central India during the next 2-3 days,''the Met office said.

The Met office has forecast a generally cloudy sky during the next 24 hours with a few spells of rain and thundershowers. One or two heavy spells are also likely in some areas.

Infact, the weatherman say South West Monsoon could just be round the corner.

''Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into the some more parts of Arabian Sea, most parts of Gujarat, some parts of East Rajasthan, some more parts of Madhya Pradesh and East Uttar Pradesh, entire Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and some parts of Haryana and Punjab.

Conditions are favourable for further advance of monsoon into remaining parts of the country during the next 2-3 days,'' the Met office said.

The met office had yesterday forecast that South West Monsoon could arrive in Delhi earlier than its scheduled date of June 29.

UNI AR SB BD1842