Delhi-NCR residents woke to cooler and pleasant weather on Monday as cloudy skies and a gentle breeze brought relief from the recent heat. The rain over the weekend also helped improve air quality across the national capital. Delhi is likely to see partly cloudy skies on Monday, with the maximum temperature expected to remain between 31 and 33 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The minimum temperature is likely to stay between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius.
The recent rainfall also brought a marked improvement in Delhi’s air quality. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the city’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 53 on Sunday, placing it in the ‘satisfactory’ category. Delhi’s overall AQI stood at 66 on Monday, remaining in the ‘satisfactory’ category. Several monitoring stations recorded relatively low pollution levels, including NSUT Jaffarpur at 37, Burari Crossing at 39, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 45, Okhla Phase-2 at 52, Mandir Marg at 58 and Punjabi Bagh at 59. Meanwhile, the IMD has issued a heavy rainfall alert for Uttarakhand, South Interior Karnataka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for September 28.
The IMD has forecast isolated rainfall over Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab on Monday. However, largely dry weather is expected to return to the region from September 29 and continue until October 3. The temperature was only slightly higher than the 20.8 degrees Celsius recorded on September 6, 2008. IMD records show that the 20.6 degrees Celsius recorded on September 29, 2000, remains the lowest minimum temperature recorded in Delhi in September since 2000. The Delhi Ridge recorded an even lower minimum temperature of 16.8 degrees Celsius on September 27, making it the lowest temperature recorded in the plains that day.
