14 Flights Diverted, Rain Brings Down Temperature In Delhi

Several parts of Delhi received heavy rains on Saturday, bringing down the temperature and disrupting road and air traffic. As many as 14 flights were diverted to Lucknow, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Jaipur due to bad weather, a Delhi airport official said.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 27.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees above the season's average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 16.2 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the season's average, a senior weather official told news agency Press Trust of India.

Till 5.30 pm, 3.5 mm rainfall was recorded with Lodhi Road getting the maximum rainfall of 3.8 mm, the official added.

Weather official said the rainfall occurred due to western disturbance, a cyclonic storm that originates in the Mediterranean region and brings sudden winter rain to northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Due to the rain, 100 per cent humidity was recorded at 5:30 pm.

The MeT department has forecast partially cloudy sky with light rains on Sunday. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle around 25 and 14 degrees Celsius respectively, it said.

Earlier, the India Meteorological Department had prediceted thunderstorm and rain in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi

"These convective clouds are over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and NCR and adjoining areas," the IMD had tweeted.

"These areas likely to get thunderstorm and precipitation as per forecast," it said.

The air quality of the national capital was recorded under the moderate categaory at 132.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered ''good'', 51-100 ''satisfactory'', 101-200 ''moderate'', 201-300 ''poor'', 301-400 ''very poor'' and 401-500 ''severe''. An AQI above 500 falls in the ''severe plus'' category.