Delhi seems to be heading for record rainfall in the month of August. Short of halfway through, it has reached close to its monthly normal quota of 233.1mm. The city has already recorded 209.4mm of rainfall between 01st and 13th Aug 2024. It is completely in contrast to the last year August, when the base observatory had recorded a mere 91.9mm rainfall. Notably, August is the rainiest month for the capital city and accounts for nearly 1/3rd of annual rainfall. The capital has an average of 774.4mm of yearly rainfall and July and August, together record 2/3rd of this target.
Active monsoon conditions are likely to continue, at least, for one more week. The city practically rained every day in August, so far. Fairly pleasant conditions have prevailed with day temperatures plunging to the low 30’s and minimum temperatures hovering in mid 20’s. Persistent cloud cover, mild breeze and frequent showers have remained the hallmark, more so for the last three days. Most parts of the city and its suburbs have shared similar weather conditions for the last week. The base station at Safdarjung has recorded rainfall of 20mm and airport Palam 29mm, in the past 24 hours. Najafgarh recorded the highest of 41.5mm rainfall. The peripheral cities of Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurugram also recorded decent showers during this period.
Close proximity of the seasonal monsoon trough has triggered this prolonged weather activity. A cyclonic circulation is marked over Northwest Madhya Pradesh and Northeast Rajasthan in the lower levels. This feature has been holding the trough in the vicinity of Delhi, for the last 5 days. The trough will keep its position with slight north-south oscillation. Monsoon showers are likely every day, more so, in the afternoon and evening hours. The spread and intensity will increase between 16th and 19th Aug. The sporadic rains may cast a shadow on the grand celebrations on Independence Day. Keeping fingers crossed for the majestic show at the Red Fort.
Image Courtesy: Wikipedia