As many as 22 flights headed towards Delhi were diverted on Saturday due to inclement weather as rains hit parts of Delhi-NCR on Saturday evening, bringing respite from the heat. Of them, 9 flights were diverted to Jaipur, 8 to Lucknow, 2 to Chandigarh, and 1 each to Varansi, Amritsar and Ahmedabad. The official said 9 flights of IndiGo, 8 flights of Air India, and 3 flights of Vistara were among those that were diverted. The flights were diverted between 1500 hours and 1830 hours, the official added. The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital handles around 1,300 flight movements daily.
Earlier, the India Meteorological Department ( IMD) had predicted light and moderate rain along with gusty winds in Delhi and NCR regions including Bahadurgarh, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram, and Manesar early in the day. It has advised people to stay indoors, close windows and doors and avoid travel if possible.
Several stretches witnessed heavy traffic jams due to rains in the Delhi and NCR.”Thunderstorm with light to moderate intensity rain and heavy intensity rain over isolated places and gusty winds with speed of 30-50 Km/h would occur over and adjoining areas of many places of Delhi, NCR (Bahadurgarh, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Manesar)…Sonipat, Rohtak, Kharkhoda, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mattanhail Jhajjar, Farukhanagar, Kosali, Mahendargarh, Rewari (Haryana), Bhiwari (Rajasthan)” during the next two hours,” IMD said on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
However, with the sudden change in weather as many as 17 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Saturday evening due to bad weather. The diversions happened after 5 pm in the evening. According to an official, 17 flights have been diverted due to bad weather as of now.
The maximum temperature in the national capital was recorded at 39 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season’s average. IMD attributed the rains to an active western disturbance over northwest India and has also forecast light rain accompanied by gusty winds on Sunday. Scientist and Head of the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre Kuldeep Srivastava said, “The temperature in the capital will drop by nearly 33 per cent, with overcast skies and winds reaching speeds of 30 to 40 kmph due to an active western disturbance that hit northwest India on April 12.”
The effects of the western disturbance will be felt until April 18-19. The temperature will not reach 40 degrees Celsius until then.
After April 18, the temperature will begin to increase day by day, he said.
The relative humidity in Delhi oscillated between 71 percent and 31 percent during the day. Urging people to stay indoors, IMD issued an advisory for thunderstorms and lightning over Delhi-NCR and asked people to close windows and doors and avoid travelling. Additionally, the advisory recommended seeking safe shelters and avoiding taking shelter under trees.
