Delhi woke up to an overcast sky and thundershowers on Thursday as rain lashed the National Capital Region, bringing temperatures down. The city is likely to experience hailstorms later in the day, the India Meteorological Department said, according to The Indian Express.
At least 10 Delhi-bound trains were delayed in the morning because of poor visibility, ANI reported.
On Wednesday, the Met department’s regional head Kuldeep Srivastava had told IANS that rain was expected in the region because of western disturbances accompanied by moist eastern winds from the Bay of Bengal that hit the plains on Wednesday night. These conditions were expected to continue till Friday, he added.
In its forecast on Tuesday, the weather department had said: “Scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershowers and isolated hailstorms likely over plains of northwest and central India, mainly during February 14-15. Isolated heavy rains likely over northern parts of Punjab and Haryana and Chandigarh on February 14.”
The rain is likely to shift towards eastern India from Friday, the weather department said. The thunderstorm is likely to improve the air quality in Delhi to “moderate” by late Thursday, according to the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting.
Two flights diverted from Delhi
Two flights were diverted from the Delhi airport due to the weather, according to ANI. IndiGo Airlines, in a statement issued on Wednesday, cited “bad weather” for possible cancellation of flights, according to NDTV.
“IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by approximately 30 flights per day,” the statement said. “This is in order to stabilise the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing NOTAM and predicted bad weather in the coming days.” NOTAM, or notice to airmen, is given to pilots and it includes information on potential hazards on a flight route.
At least 38 flights were diverted last week from Delhi when a hailstorm hit parts of the National Capital Region.
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