Delhi set to see highest number of rainy days in a month this August

New Delhi: Delhi is set to clock another monsoon milestone this year by recording the most number of rainy days in a month, according to data collected by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) since 2011.
As of 8.30am on Sunday, 22 days of rainfall were recorded in August. With IMD predicting more rainfall till the month-end, August 2024 will in all likelihood break the record for the most number of rainy days since 2011, the earliest that IMD has made data available for. The last time there were 22 rainy days in a month was in August 2012.

According to IMD, the Safdarjung weather station, which is considered representative of Delhi weather, clocked 0.6mm of rainfall till 8.30am on the day. IMD has forecast Delhi to add to its tally of rainy days this month, predicting scattered light rainfall till August 31. A yellow alert was also issued for Tuesday, with a forecast for light to moderate rainfall.
The monsoon trough is currently south of Delhi-NCR due to a depression over central India, including Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan, IMD said. This is only likely to give Delhi patchy light rain till Tuesday, when the trough is expected to move closer to Delhi again, it added.
“This depression is likely to move nearly west-southwestwards and intensify further into a deep depression over east Rajasthan during next 12 hours. Thereafter, it will continue to move nearly west-southwestwards across south Rajasthan and Gujarat slowly and emerge into northeast Arabian Sea off Saurashtra & Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts around morning of August 29,” IMD said in a statement on Sunday.
This month, Delhi set the record for the most number of continuous rainy days in a month, at 18, since 2011. Also, Delhi recorded 27 continuous days of “satisfactory” air quality, till August 23, which is the highest since September 2020, when 51 such days were recorded.
According to IMD data, since 2011, the previous highest number of rainy days in a month was recorded in August 2012. This was followed by 20 rainy days in August 2011. IMD did not share data before 2011.
Besides the Safdarjung weather station, rainfall was recorded by other weather stations in Delhi as well. The Ayanagar weather station logged 17.2mm of rainfall, the Palam weather station 6.6mm, the Delhi University weather station 9.5mm and the Ridge station 10mm.
However, none of the weather stations in Delhi recorded rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm, making it a partially cloudy day, marked by high humidity.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology, a private weather forecaster, said that as the depression weakens, the monsoon trough, which is currently above Madhya Pradesh, will again return closer to Delhi.
“We should see a decent spell of rainfall on August 27 and even August 28. Other than that, we will mostly see patchy rainfall this month. Scattered rain will continue to keep Delhi wet,” Palawat said.
Palawat said the monsoon trough has largely stayed close to Delhi-NCR this August, giving consistent rainfall throughout the month.
“The monsoon trough is currently south of Delhi, but has mostly stayed around this region through the month. We have not seen intense showers, but consistent rainfall due to this. If we had an active weather system, for example a western disturbance, the combination of these two factors would have led to intense showers and possibly, heavy to very heavy rainfall,” he said.
So far, Delhi has recorded 278.4mm of rainfall till August 25, which is already past the monthly average mark of 233.1mm. The last time Delhi received more rain in the month was in 2013, when it recorded 321.4mm of rainfall.
Delhi’s maximum temperature on Sunday was 35.6°C, a degree above the normal. The minimum temperature was 25.4°C, a degree below the normal. Relative humidity oscillated between 63% and 95% in the last 24 hours. Delhi’s heat index (HI) or “real feel” temperature reached its peak, of 40°C, at 2.30pm on Sunday. The wet bulb temperature, another indicator of thermal discomfort outside, was recorded at 28.5°C.
Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, returned to the “satisfactory” level on Sunday after touching the “moderate” category on Saturday.