Delhi heads for record March rain
NEWDELHI: Saturday’s heavy rain and hailstorm in Delhi created a new record for March.
Scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Saturday received the highest rainfall ever recorded in a day in the month of March.
The Safdarjung observatory, which is considered the official recording for Delhi, recorded 101.9mm of rainfall in March so far, the highest ever for the city for the month, IMD scientists said.
It was also the second highest rainfall ever recorded in a day since 1992, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD’S regional weather forecasting centre.
“If you look at the rainfall recording for the month of March, the last time so much rain was recorded in a day was in 2015 with 97.4mm rainfall,” said Srivastava.
The rainfall was 97.4mm in
March 2015, 61.6 mm in March 2007 and 36.5 mm in March 1995.
The India Meteorological Department said the weather station at Safdarjung recorded 37 mm of rainfall on Saturday, the second highest in a day in March after 56.8 mm on March 2, 2015. The Lodhi Road Observatory received 47.6 mm of rain till 5.30 pm.
Srivastava said Delhi witnessed rain on the nights of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, too, under the influence of an active western disturbance. The weather system is expected to withdraw Saturday night onwards.
“There is a possibility of the maximum and the minimum temperatures increasing in the coming days.
The maximum temperature is expected to reach 30 degree Celsius by March 18,” he said.
So far, Delhi has received rains on nine days this month, the scientist said.