Even as the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from Delhi, a depression over northeast Madhya Pradesh brought light rainfall to the Capital and led to a sharp dip in the maximum temperature on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said similar conditions, of rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds, will persist on Sunday.
Previously, 0.3mm of rainfall was recorded on September 29, 2019. On Saturday, Delhi logged 0.6mm of rainfall until 8.30pm. This is also the first time in the past seven years that it has rained so late in September.
IMD said the monsoon withdrawal line advanced through Chandigarh, Muzaffarnagar and Aligarh on September 26. We can expect a few spells of light to moderate rainfall in isolated areas until Monday and the weather will clear up after September 29,” said Mahesh Palawat, the vice-president of Skymet Weather. The maximum temperature at Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, fell to 29.2 degrees Celsius (°C) on Saturday, which was 3.8°C down from the day before and 5.1°C lower than the normal for the day. The fall was sharper at several other stations, with the Ridge station clocking a maximum of 27.5°C and Lodhi Road clocking 28.3°C.
“At the same time, a depression over northeast Madhya Pradesh and adjoining north Chhattisgarh moved north-northwestwards, towards southeast Uttar Pradesh (UP). It was expected to weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area after moving further north-northwest. “This depression in the south moved upwards and created a micro-pressure area in UP, causing widespread rainfall in Uttarakhand and UP. The peripheral clouds are affecting parts of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi-NCR.
However, the weather system moved faster than expected,” an IMD official said. This depression is driving fresh rainfall over north and central India, including Delhi-NCR, said experts, who cited the existing weather system for the rainfall. He said that a western disturbance is also present as a trough in the middle-tropospheric westerlies, while other weather systems are active over eastern and northeastern India.
