Delhi braces for more rain; IMD issues red alert for parts of capital

Parts of Delhi received light showers and experienced thunderstorms on Monday morning, prompting the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue weather alerts. Initially, a yellow alert was in place for the southern half of the city, but it was later upgraded to a red alert for most of Delhi.

The IMD stated that a fresh, intense convective cloudmass moving southeastwards was expected to bring very light to light rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds gusting up to 80 kmph to the city. The red alert covered north, northwest, northeast, central, east, and parts of southeast, west, and New Delhi, while an orange alert was issued for southwest and south Delhi.

Rainfall recorded on Monday morning was highest in Palam at 1.3mm. The IMD forecast predicts further rain, thunderstorms, and lightning for the afternoon or evening of Monday and potentially Tuesday. While temperatures are expected to rise, reaching up to 44°C by Saturday, the continued rain could lead to an improvement in the city's air quality, which was recorded at an AQI of 135.