Unseasonal rain in the National Capital Region on Monday brought down the temperature, signalling the onset of winter and providing relief for citizens grappling with haze and smog for the last fortnight.
While thunderstorms over Delhi-NCR led to the disruption of flight services, with several flights diverted to Jaipur, Lucknow, and Chandigarh, heavy rains were also reported in other parts of the country, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The rains claimed 24 lives due to multiple lightning strikes and simultaneously took a toll on crops of onion, tomato, leafy vegetables and sugarcane in Maharashtra, North Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha regions.
Delhi witnessed light rain with a thunderstorm in the evening, and residents were hopeful that the showers would bring down the high pollution levels.
This came after the air quality in the national Capital deteriorated to the severe category. With the temperature dropping due to the rain, netizens have taken to social media to share their reactions.
According to IMD scientist RK Jenamani the clouds over Delhi will persist till Tuesday. “The western disturbance created due to intense circulation over central Pakistan led to the cloud formation over Delhi,” he said.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 13.4 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season’s average.
The average Air Quality Index of Delhi was recorded at 395 at 4 pm.
A thick layer of smog blanketed the national Capital and its suburbs, reducing visibility to just 600 meters at 8 am at the Safdarjung Observatory, the primary weather station in Delhi.
The visibility was 800 metres at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) until bad weather in evening diverted flights.
While Gujarat reported 20 deaths due to lightening in 24 hours, in Madhya Pradesh, four people, including a married couple, were killed and a boy was seriously injured in multiple lightning strikes.
In Maharashtra, heavy rain accompanied with strong winds damaged crops of onions, tomato, sugarcane and leafy vegetables in Nashik and its surrounding areas.
In its forecast, the IMD has predicted light to moderate rainfall at some places accompanied with isolated thunderstorm & lightning very likely over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, East Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, north Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh November 29 with significant reduction thereafter.
