Reported by ETV Bharat News
New Delhi: Overnight rain, thunderstorms and isolated hailstorms brought temporary relief from air pollution in Delhi on Sunday, with the city s average Air Quality Index (AQI) improving to 167 in the moderate category. However, 11 of the capital s 54 monitoring stations continued to record poor air quality, highlighting the uneven impact of the weather event.
Experts have cautioned that the improvement may be short-lived, stressing that rainfall and stronger winds can disperse pollutants but cannot resolve the underlying problem of emissions from vehicles, construction activities, road dust and waste burning.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said very light to light rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning occurred at a few places in Delhi during Saturday night. Isolated hailstorms were also reported in parts of Central and South Delhi.
The weather office attributed the event to a feeble western disturbance in the middle and upper tropospheric levels, along with moisture flowing in from the Arabian Sea. Isolated hailstorms were also reported in Ferozepur, Sirsa, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad while gusty winds of up to 85 kmph were recorded in Kaithal.
According to rainfall observations reported by the IMD, Safdarjung recorded 4.4 mm rain between 8.30 pm on Saturday and 8.30 am on Sunday.
