New Delhi: Friday became the coolest Oct day Delhi has seen since 1951. The reason for this is the intense rainfall the night before, which plunged the maximum temperature to 20.7 degrees Celsius, a 10-degree difference with the season’s normal.
Delhi recorded the wettest Oct in four years with a total monthly rainfall of 127.7 mm, when the month’s normal is 15.1 mm. It was 25.4 degrees Celsius Thursday. India Meteorological Department’s data shows that since 1951, a higher maximum temperature than 20.7 degrees Celsius in Oct was last recorded on Oct 25, 1975, at 21.5 degrees Celsius. The difference between day and night temperatures was just 3.5 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature Friday was reported at 17.2 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal.
Another IMD scientist, Krishna Mishra, said: “Delhi recorded moderate to heavy rainfall due to an interaction of a western disturbance with a depression.
For the Met department to declare a “cold day”, the minimum temperature has to be below 10 degrees Celsius and the day’s maximum temperature should be 4.5 degrees or more below the season’s normal. The city saw intense rainfall after the interaction of a western disturbance with a depression — the remnants of the very severe cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’. Safdarjung, the city’s base station, saw a sharp decline in the maximum temperature, but it did not meet the cold day criteria. The intermittent rain on two days caused the day temperature to drop drastically Friday. The depression has now turned into a well-marked low pressure area and the impact of western disturbance has weakened. Hence, rain activity is unlikely from Saturday.”