New Delhi: Dense fog and a cloud cover hovered over Delhi in the early hours of Saturday, a day after the city and surrounding NCR regions witnessed heavy rainfall and the coldest March day in six years.
As of 7.20 am, the temperature recorded at Delhi’s Safdrajung observatory was 14 degrees Celsius, while the humidity stood at 100 per cent with misty conditions. No weather alerts have been issued by the IMD for Delhi-NCR on Saturday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a yellow alert for rain and thunderstorms in Delhi on Friday. The heavy rainfall, triggered by an active western disturbance, brought much-needed relief from record temperatures. Several districts in Uttar Pradesh also experienced gusty winds, thunderstorms and rainfall, triggering stormy conditions.
Friday also became its coldest March day in six years, witnessing the cleanest air in about five months in Delhi, with the AQI falling in the ‘satisfactory’ category. Delhi had last logged its coldest March day since March 8, 2020, when the mercury had dropped to 21.2 degrees Celsius. The Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 93, placing it in the ‘satisfactory’ category. This marked the first such day in about five months (161 days), with the last time the city recorded ‘satisfactory’ air quality on October 9, 2025, when the AQI stood at 99.
With the recent spell of rain, March has turned out to be the wettest in the last three years. The last instance of higher rainfall during this month was recorded in 2023, when precipitation reached 50.4 mm.
While an orange alert was in place on Thursday, the weather took a turn on Wednesday, with strong gusts of wind, light rain and lightning witnessed in Delhi and surrounding areas in the evening.
The Met department attributed the change in weather to an active western disturbance extending from northern Pakistan to Madhya Pradesh, along with cyclonic circulations over Haryana and southern Uttar Pradesh.
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