Amid light rain, mercury level rises in Delhi

New Delhi
The maximum temperature of Delhi increased on Saturday, from 32.6°C a day earlier to 34.4°C, even as parts of the city clocked light to moderate rainfall on the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast light rain for the next few days, but did not issue a colour-coded alert for the next week.
The minimum temperature also increased on Saturday, from 23.4°C recorded a day earlier to 24.5°C. This was, however, two degrees below the normal.
“Generally cloudy skies persisted throughout Saturday. A yellow alert had been issued for the day.There was light to moderate rain in several parts of the city,” an IMD official said.
The Safdarjung weather station, which is representative of Delhi weather, recorded no rain in the early hours of the day and then 0.6mm of rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm. The Palam weather station recorded trace rainfall in the early hours, followed by 8.2mm of rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm. The Lodhi Road station recorded 0.1mm of rain and 1mm of rain and the Ayanagar station recorded 1.2mm of rain and 11.5mm of rain, in the two respective time intervals.
The IMD official said, “Light rain and thunderstorm, along with generally cloudy skies, will persist for the next few days. However, no alert has been issued.”
Delhi recorded an air quality index of 70 on Saturday, which is classified as “satisfactory”, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi forecast the air quality to stay in the satisfactory category for the next couple of days. “The air quality is likely to be in the satisfactory category from Sunday to Tuesday. The outlook for subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in satisfactory to moderate category,” said the AQEWS bulletin on Saturday.