Delhi likely to witness light rainfall today, temperature expected to drop

New Delhi: The national capital is likely to witness light rainfall on Friday, informed the India Meteorological Department.

“Light isolated rainfall with thunderstorm/lightning/gusty winds likely over Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during next 12 hours,” read the weather bulletin issued by the IMD on Thursday evening.

The weather agency said that the maximum temperature in the national capital is likely to touch 39 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature can drop down to 24 degrees Celsius today. Further, the sky is likely to remain cloudy throughout the day, the bulletin read.

The daily bulletin further mentioned that the “heatwave prevailed at isolated places over Punjab, Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana and West Madhya Pradesh during 17-20 April.”

After witnessing a series of heatwaves in the month, the national capital region experienced duststorms with light rains on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

With the likelihood of rain and dust storm, the mercury in the national capital dropped to a refreshing 25 degrees Celsius at 12:30 am on Friday.

Notably, Northwest India this year recorded the hottest March in 122 years, with an average maximum temperature surpassing the previous record of 30.67 degrees Celsius in 2004.

Delhi’s power demand touched 5,735 MW on April 19, the highest ever in the month of April for the city.

This increase in demand amounts to over 28 per cent from April 1, 2022, when the city clocked 4,469 MW power demand. On Monday, the peak power demand clocked 5,641 MW.

Since March 1, Delhi’s peak power demand has increased by over 42 per cent, when the city had clocked 4,040 MW.

In the month of April, Delhi’s peak power demand has already crossed 5,000 MW in nine days so far.

When compared to earlier years, Delhi’s peak power demand in April had not crossed 5,000 MW even once in 2021 and 2020.