Delhi-NCR wakes to rain-soaked Monday as IMD sounds yellow alert; airlines issue advisory

Residents in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) woke up on Monday morning to cloudy skies and fresh spells of rain. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for the day, warning of light showers and thunderstorms across the national capital and nearby cities.

The weather department said that intermittent rainfall is likely to continue throughout the day and may disrupt traffic movement in different parts of the capital.

Light rain was recorded early in the morning in areas of Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad. Pictures and videos from across the capital showed wet roads and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in New Delhi also issued an early morning post on X (formerly Twitter) at 6.22 am, stating that light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning was expected in many parts of Delhi and NCR. The forecast included regions such as Greater Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Manesar, Ballabhgarh, and Bahadurgarh, along with several towns in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

As per India Today, the IMD has also predicted that Delhi will continue to receive light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms until August 30.

The rainy conditions also affected air travel. SpiceJet airlines issued a travel advisory for passengers, warning them that heavy rain in Delhi could delay departures and arrivals.

“Due to bad weather (heavy rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may be affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status,” the airline stated on X.

However, other major airlines like IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa Air had not issued any similar advisory on Monday morning.

This fresh round of showers came just a day after heavy rainfall on Sunday created traffic jams and waterlogging in several parts of the city. Areas such as Preet Vihar, ITO, Rajeev Chowk, Jafarpur, India Gate, Safdarjung, Lodi Road, and Akshardham were among the worst affected. Nehru Stadium, Defence Colony, Kalkaji, Ayanagar, and Deramandi also saw significant rainfall.

However, rain on Sunday also brought down the mercury, with the maximum temperature recorded at 32.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. This was 2.5 degrees lower than Saturday's maximum temperature. The relative humidity oscillated between 77% and 100%. The minimum temperature settled at 23.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal, TOI reported.

On Saturday evening, the IMD had even issued a red alert for Delhi after intense rain accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms. So far, Delhi has recorded more than 254.8 mm of rainfall this month, crossing the normal monthly average, with more rain still expected in the coming days.