Delhi has recorded rainfall deficiencies of 61% so far this year, but the monsoons are almost here?

Delhi seems to have been dealt a bad hand this year as a never-ending heatwave gripped the national capital first, followed by a water shortage crisis spurred by an increased demand for the essential commodity. These things have already ballooned into political issues and the city has been in desperate need for some relief.

Fortunately, relief of some sort is here. While the ongoing rainy spell isn’t going to fully solve Delhi’s water shortage or the settle matters between the Haryana and Delhi governments, it is a start.

Between January 1 and June 26, the national capital has seen less than 20 mm of rainfall, resulting in a rainfall deficiency of 61%. To make matters worse, there were whispers of a delayed monsoon progression over Delhi. Had this come true, it might’ve been the last straw for heat-stricken Delhiites and the parched landscape.

However, it seems like things started to look up for the residents of Delhi when cloudy skies rolled into the city on Wednesday. Prodded by a western disturbance, rains finally began to drench Delhi last evening. In the evening, 2.3 mm, 1.3 mm and 1.3 mm of rain were recorded in Palam, Aya Nagar and Ridge, respectively.

The icing on Delhiites’ cake is that the monsoon is just around the corner too! The monsoon has reached the threshold of Delhi-UP. On Wednesday, pre-monsoon rain fell in many areas of UP, including Ayodhya. As per the India Meteorlogical Department’s indications, the southwest monsoon is expected to enter Delhi by the end of this week, around June 29-30.

Given these projections, the national capital and its surrounding regions can expect moderate to heavy rains (up to 115.5 mm) accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds will continue over the next seven days. Accordingly, a yellow watch has been issued over Delhi-NCR for the forecast period so as to urge locals to ‘be updated’ about the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Delhiites are currently battling the scorching heat, and there have been nine heatwave days in June so far, while there was not a single heatwave day during the same period in 2023 and 2022. Although Delhi has got some relief from the heat compared to earlier, its daytime temperatures have stubbornly remained two notches above-normal in spite of the rains. The good news is that the city’s maximum temperature is expected to gradually drop by a whole 4-5 degrees in the next few days and touch 34°C.