Moderate rainfall lashed Delhi-NCR on Thursday, October 29, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert for the national capital region, forecasting a generally cloudy sky with spells of rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press — Rain lashes Delhi-NCR, IMD issues yellow alert

The IMD forecast light to moderate rainfall at several places, accompanied by lightning and strong winds. Wind speeds could reach 40-50 kmph during the morning hours, easing to gusts of 30-40 kmph for the rest of the day. The maximum temperature in Delhi was expected to settle at 27 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 17 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

The unsettled weather is expected to continue on Friday, October 30, with isolated hailstorms also likely in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh till October 30, the IMD said. Residents were advised to exercise caution during periods of lightning, hailstorms and strong winds.

Air quality stays 'poor' despite the rain

Delhi's air quality remained in the 'poor' category on Thursday morning despite the rainfall, with the city-level Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 227 at 8 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) All India AQI portal. PM2.5 and PM10 were the prominent pollutants.

Among the monitoring stations, Uttam Nagar recorded the worst reading at 340, in the 'very poor' category, followed by Dwarka Sector 8 at 308. CRRI Mathura Road recorded 299, Punjabi Bagh 285 and Chandni Chowk 272. Under the CPCB classification, an AQI of 201-300 is 'poor' and 301-400 is 'very poor'.

The rain over Delhi-NCR came as the IMD's wider bulletin for October 29 also warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, with thunderstorms and hailstorms at isolated places in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab.

Source: The CSR Journal — Cyclone Arnab weakens, IMD hailstorm and thunderstorm alerts for Delhi-NCR