The national Capital had its first date with the monsoon rains on Wednesday. Though the Met department is yet to officially conclude if the monsoons have arrived in the Capital, the rain gave the much needed respite from scorching heat in the city.
However, the strong winds followed by heavy showers resulted in the death of two children and injuring three others. The Met department maintained that due to strong easterly winds moving towards the north, Delhiites can still expect monsoon showers on Thursday.
On Wednesday, thundershowers lashed the national Capital gave respite to Delhiites from the hot and humid conditions even as the city geared up to welcome the monsoon. But the weather conditions resulted in the death of two children due to cases of wall and jhuggi collapse respectively. The incidents also left three more people injured. No case of major waterlogging was reported in the city.
The Met department, however, did not declare the rainfall on Wednesday as indicating the arrival of monsoon.
“The winds are no doubt like monsoon ones and they were also flowing from the Bay of Bengal. But we still cannot be sure,” said a Met official.
But BP Yadav, the IMD Director, said, “We will take data from our weather stations in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan and study the rainfall and wind patterns before declaring the arrival of monsoon in the national Capital.”
The city received a good four millimetres of rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. The rain pulled the mercury down with the day temperature being recorded at 36.6 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this part of the season. The minimum was at 25.5 degrees or two notches below normal. Humidity in air fluctuated between 60 and 85 per cent.
The weatherman has forecast a partly cloudy sky with the possibility of rain and thundershowers in some areas on Thursday. “The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be around 36 and 26 degrees, respectively,” the Met added.