IMD sounds red alert as thunderstorms, rain and strong winds sweep Delhi

Several parts of Delhi woke up to light rain and thunderstorms on Monday morning, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to upgrade its weather warning from a yellow alert to a red alert as intense storm clouds approached the capital.

The IMD initially issued a yellow alert for much of south Delhi around 7 a.m. before escalating it to a red alert at about 8:20 a.m. as a fresh convective system moved towards the city.

“A fresh intense convective cloud mass moving southeastwards across Rohtak is likely to affect most places of Delhi with very light to light rain, thunderstorms, lightning and strong winds of 60-70 kmph, gusting up to 80 kmph,” the weather department said.

The red alert covered north, northwest, northeast, central and east Delhi, along with parts of west, southeast and New Delhi districts, while an orange alert remained in place for much of south and southwest Delhi.

According to IMD data, Palam recorded the highest rainfall between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. with 1.3 mm, followed by Chattarpur with 1 mm. Pitampura and Pusa each received 0.5 mm of rain during the same period.

Ayanagar recorded 0.6 mm of rainfall from Sunday evening to Monday morning, while Lodhi Road reported only trace precipitation. Most other weather stations had not recorded measurable rainfall by 8:30 a.m.

The IMD said light rain accompanied by thunderstorms was expected over several areas, including Bawana, Rajouri Garden, Patel Nagar, Safdarjung, Lodhi Road, Buddha Jayanti Park, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Rajiv Chowk, ITO, Kalkaji and Tughlakabad over the following two hours.

Further rainfall is forecast later in the day, with the weather department predicting spells of light rain, thunderstorms and lightning during the afternoon and evening. Similar conditions are expected on Tuesday, while another round of rainfall is forecast for Saturday.

Despite the wet weather, temperatures are projected to rise steadily through the week. The maximum temperature is expected to remain between 38°C and 40°C on Monday before climbing to 42°C–44°C by Saturday. The minimum temperature, recorded at 28.2°C on Monday morning, could increase to 30°C–32°C by the weekend.

The rainfall may bring some relief to air pollution levels. Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 135 at 9 a.m. on Monday, placing it in the moderate category.