Pre-monsoon showers drench Delhi

The south-west monsoon is likely to hit the national capital in a day or two as pre-monsoon showers drenched the city on Tuesday, bringing respite to denizens who have been braving an intense heat wave for the past week.

Various parts of the city received rains during the past 12 hours, which brought down the temperature to tolerable levels around 25 degree Celsius, the Meteorological office said.

"The capital received pre-monsoon showers today. Monsoon showers are expected in a day or two," the duty officer at the Meteorological Department in Safdarjung said. The rain gauges of the Weather Office have measured 6.8 mm of showers in the city between 5:30 pm on Monday evening and 8:30 am on Tuesday.

The city has received over 10 mm of rains in the past three days. The Met office said the minimum temperature dropped by over four degrees to touch 25 degree Celsius.However, the rains have brought in high humidity, with the city experiencing 87 per cent humidity in the morning.

Delhi had missed its June 29 tryst with the monsoon, the normal onset day for the annual rains here but since Sunday, the city has been receiving showers.

The showers have brought respite for Delhiites facing scorching heat and massive power cuts coupled with water shortage. The capital has been witnessing an intense heat wave for the past few days with maximum temperature hovering close to 44 degrees.

The Weather Office's projection of likely monsoon in Delhi is based on its assertion that the monsoon had covered about 80 per cent of the country. Aided by the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, the monsoon has covered entire central India and some parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. Weather scientists said that Delhi may get monsoon rains by July 2 and more vigorous rainfall by next week.

"The conditions are favourable for the further advancement of southwest monsoon over some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some parts of east Rajasthan and western UP in the next two days," B P Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department, has said.