From rain-soaked days to warm nights, August has unfolded differently for Delhi this year: Rainfall has already crossed the seasonal average, day and night-time temperatures remain high, and the month’s average air quality index has reached a three-year high.
The seasonal rainfall surplus has been recorded across most of the city’s weather stations. Delhi has received 653.9 mm of rainfall at Safdarjung since the beginning of the monsoon season, compared with the long-period average of 506.7 mm, resulting in a surplus of 147.2 mm, or 29 per cent, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The capital also recorded its wettest first week of August in 15 years, receiving 127 mm of rainfall during the first seven days of the month, the highest for the period since 2011. The month witnessed one of its heaviest single-day rainfall spells on August 25, when Safdarjung recorded 99.1 mm of rain in 24 hours, the highest rainfall for an August day in two years, the IMD said. The last time Safdarjung recorded more rainfall in August was on August 1, 2024, when the station received 107.6 mm. The average maximum temperature at Safdarjung until August 29 was 34.1 degrees Celsius, the highest in two years. The IMD said the last time the average maximum temperature was higher was in 2023, when it stood at 35.4 degrees Celsius. The average minimum temperature stood at 26.8 degrees Celsius, the same as in 2023 and the highest since then. The last time it was higher was in 2018, when the average minimum temperature was 27.3 degrees Celsius.
