Weak Monsoon Conditions Continue, Rainy Weekend Ahead For Delhi
Weak monsoon conditions continue over Delhi and its suburbs. Isolated light and patchy rainfall has been recorded in the Delhi region over the past 24 hours. The base station at Safdarjung recorded 1 mm of rainfall, while the Palam observatory recorded 2 mm in the past 24 hours. As such, the onset of the monsoon itself was not resounding. Some pockets in the suburbs did not receive monsoon showers on the 28th and 29th of June, when the monsoon made a soft entry over the capital city. The primary station at Safdarjung has recorded just 4.3 mm of rainfall in the last three days. Two more days—today and tomorrow—will also observe similar conditions, with minimal and patchy light rainfall over Delhi/NCR.
July is the second rainiest month for Delhi. This month has been maintaining a good track record and has missed the monthly target only once in the last 10 years. The normal rainfall for the month of July stands at 195.8 mm.
The lowest rainfall in the last 15 years was 94.8 mm, recorded in 2012. An all-time high of 632 mm was registered in 2003. Despite the latest onset of the monsoon on 13th July, the monthly rainfall was more than double the normal, at 507.1 mm, in July 2021.
A cyclonic circulation is marked over Southwest Rajasthan and the adjoining region. Another circulation, from the remnant of a low-pressure area, is marked over Gangetic West Bengal, North Odisha, and the Jharkhand region, up to the middle levels of the atmosphere. An east-west trough is connecting these two features. The axis of the trough lies far to the south of Delhi today and is therefore unlikely to cause any significant weather activity. As day temperatures rise in the absence of any major weather systems, localized heat and humidity may trigger light patchy showers in some pockets. From tomorrow onward, the trough will start moving northward, and conditions will become favourable for increased weather activity. Tomorrow, the activity may still remain mild and is expected to pick up on Saturday and Sunday. Decent monsoon showers, albeit of short duration, are likely over the weekend. The weather activity will spill over into next week and may last till mid-week. The intensity and spread of rainfall next week are expected to be sharper and stronger than the wet spell approaching this weekend.
