Light rain in parts of Delhi for third straight day on Monday amid farmers protests. (File)
It's been raining in Delhi since the New Year began, and according to a forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) strong winds and showers are likely to continue in the national capital for at least another day. Afterwards, the mercury is set to drop drastically, it added.
Light rain was experienced in parts of Delhi for the third straight day on Monday amid ongoing protests along its borders by thousands of farmers.
According to the IMD, an active Western Disturbance wind system is responsible for rainfall and hailstorm in the plains and snowfall in some states that are a part of the Western Himalayan mountain system.
"Favorable weather features likely to persist till tomorrow (Tuesday) and continue to cause moderate to intense wet spell with widespread rain with thunderstorm and lightning over northwest India for the next three days," the IMD tweeted.
As per the forecast, light to moderate rainfall was also likely over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and parts of western Uttar Pradesh. Isolated pockets may also see hailstorm, it said, adding that snowfall was seen in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand.
The continued rain has cleaned Delhi's air, which was "moderately" polluted on Monday - a sharp improvement over the "severe" to "very poor" air quality recorded in the last week.
It has also increased the city's night temperature which is likely to drop by "four to five degrees" from Tuesday, the MeT has said.
Dense fog also enveloped parts of the national capital on Monday morning as the minimum temperature rose to 11.4 degrees Celsius - highest in the last 22 days - due to a cloud cover.
Fog lowered visibility to 50 metres at Safdarjung and 150 metres at Palam around 7.30 AM, a weather department official said.
On Friday, the minimum temperature in Delhi plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years.
The city had recorded a minimum temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius on January 8, 2006. The all-time low of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius was registered in January 1935.
Between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, the city had reportedly recorded its highest amount of rainfall on a January day since at least 2009 - 39.9 mm, as per the Safdarjung Observatory.
(With inputs from PTI)