Delhi City News Archives

New Delhi: It’s official. This is indeed the wettest May in Delhi’s history — or at least since the met department started recording weather patterns. The city has so far received 164.8 mm of rain this month, with almost a week still to go. The previous highest in May of any year was 129.3 mm recorded in 2002.

This gives an explanation as to why Delhiites, despite the respite from heat, have been feeling a sense of unease. Why is the weather so out of whack? Where is all this rain — the met office calls it ‘‘precipitation’’ — coming from? Rain comes from evaporation, right? But evaporation from which water bodies?

A senior met official’s explanation was this: ‘‘The cyclonic circulation formed over Pakistan, western Rajasthan and Punjab has been exceptionally strong this year, causing a heavy downpour in many northern states. But it has now begun to weaken and while rainfall will continue over the next few days, the intensity will reduce and eventually stop.’’

The long-time average rainfall for May in Delhi is barely 17.5 mm, which means the current month is already almost 10 times as wet as the average for this time of the year. Apart from 2002, no other year in the last decade has seen rainfall of even 80 mm in May, which is less than half what we have got so far this month. And more of it is expected in the coming days.

Rainy spell, thunderstorms to continue
Delhi’s date with rain will continue for some more time. Foreign websites predict stormy rainy days ahead for Delhiites. According to the BBC website, Delhi will get heavy rainfall over the next few days after which the temperature of Delhi will gradually increase. Websites like Yahoo and weatherunderground claim that the next two days will be sunny while Thursday-Friday will experience thunderstorms and heavy rainfall over the Capital.

Monday morning’s downpour accompanied by hail saw the city get 36 mm of rain during the 24 hours starting at 5.30 on Sunday evening — the most anywhere in India. That also meant the maximum temperature was down to 33.4 degree Celsius, all of 7 degrees lower than normal and the minimum at 24.5 was two degrees below the norm for this time of the year.

The freaky weather is not confined to Delhi. Of India’s 36 climate subdivisions, 15 have received what the met department calls “excess” rainfall in this season beginning March. That means 20% or more above the longterm average rainfall. These areas include almost the entire Deccan Plateau barring Kerala as well as Western Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.

But neighbouring Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Western and Eastern Uttar Pradesh have received “scanty” rainfall, which means the rain in these parts has been anything from 60% to 99% below normal. These, along with Saurashtra, Kutch and Diu comprise the 5 sub-divisions that have received scanty rainfall this season.

The fact that the hills have received so little rain may also help explain why there have been days in the recent past when Delhi has actually recorded lower temperatures than places like Shimla or Shrinagar.

Another 8 subdivisions have got “deficient” rainfall, which is 20% to 59% below normal. These include the eastern parts of Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Jammu& Kashmir as well the entire northeast apart from Sikkim.

Only 8 of the 36 subdivisions have received “normal” rainfall, which is defined as within 19% above or below the long-term average for this part of the year. Unlike the corresponding period last year, when 6 subdivisions had received no rainfall, this time there is none in the category.

The freaky weather is not surprisingly being viewed by many as somehow linked to global warming, though scientists warn against drawing such quick conclusions based on temporary quirks in the weather.

Though the showers brought relief in the city, it also disrupted traffic movement holding up office-goers. ‘‘It was raining so heavily that auto-rickshaw denied going anywhere. I had to take a bus which was jam-packed and reached office over 45 minutes late,’’ complained Vandana Khanna, a resident of Vivek Vihar.

Thanks to the cool weather, air conditioners are not much in demand. This has meant Delhi having a surplus power of up to 1,000 MW.

Monday morning’s heavy rainfall also affected flight movement at the IGI. Due to heavy rainfall, strong surface winds and low visibility at IGI Airport, flight operations were disrupted between 8.30 am and 9.20 am. All flights operating were either delayed or diverted to nearby Jaipur and Lucknow airports. IGI officials claimed 20 flights were delayed and another 12 were diverted, including one international flight.

Officials from the IMD, for instance, continue to insist that the heavy showers are nothing unusual, but a normal summer phenomenon.

Source: The Times Of India