IMD issues alert for moderate to heavy rainfall in Delhi over next 3 days

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said the monsoon trough will remain close to Delhi-NCR from Tuesday evening to Friday. Under its influence, convergence of lower-level easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal and south westerly winds from the Arabian Sea will take place over northwest India, he said.

The India Meteorological Department on Tuesday issued an alert for "moderate to heavy" rains in the national capital over the next three days. "Delhi-NCR is very likely to experience one or two spells of moderate rain from Wednesday evening/night to Friday afternoon, with heavy rainfall at isolated places on Thursday," it said.

The rain is likely to inundate low-lying areas and disrupt traffic on roads, it warned. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said the monsoon trough will remain close to Delhi-NCR from Tuesday evening to Friday.

Under its influence, convergence of lower-level easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal and southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea will take place over northwest India, he said. On Tuesday, cloudy weather kept the mercury below the 34 degrees mark in Delhi. However, humidity levels shot up to 92 per cent.

Delhi has recorded 213.3 mm rainfall against the normal of 210.6 mm in August so far. Overall, it has gauged 531.9 mm precipitation against the normal of 486.7 mm since June 1, when monsoon season starts.