Delhi: Dust storm, rain bring some respite from killer heat wave

In a sudden change in the weather, parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) witnessed a dust storm and thunder showers news agency ANI reported.

The change in conditions brought much-awaited respite to Delhiites reeling under hot weather conditions for the past several days.

Visibility dropped and caused vehicles plying on the streets to come to a standstill momentarily, while pedestrians rushed to seek shelter, reported PTI.

Arrivals and departures at Delhi airport delayed up to one hour due to sudden change in weather. Nearly 24 flights have been diverted out of Delhi due to bad weather, according to ANI.

People on Twitter complained of a half-hour delay in Metro service.

The weather department has also predicted overnight showers in some areas which is expected to bring down the mercury by few notches.

The Centre had forecast thunderstorms and light rainfall in the capital on Thursday due to a western disturbance approaching Jammu and Kashmir and rising temperatures on Friday.

The dusty wind hit the national capital a little after 4 pm. This was followed by heavy rain.

On Friday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded 33-degree Celsius and 22 degree Celsius respectively. The maximum temperature in the past few days had consistently stayed above the 30-degree Celsius mark.

According to a Skymet Weather report, India, barring two pockets of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, is all set to witness a rainy week ahead, with the approaching spell is likely to be a prolonged and extensive one from April 6-11.

The approaching rains are also likely to drop the mercury across the country, though afternoons would continue to be warm.

The Skymet Weather report says major contribution of rains would come from northeast India, which may help reduce the countrywide cumulative rain deficiency of 48% (as on April 4).

April 6 onwards, several parts of Punjab, Haryana, Northwest Rajasthan, Delhi-NCR and West Uttar Pradesh may see pre-monsoon activities such as thundershowers, thunderstorms, dust storms and even hail storm.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)