Rain, thunder hit Delhi on Valentine’s Day; six flights diverted

New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) Rains, accompanied by strong winds, turned the weather around in Delhi and adjoining areas on Thursday, making it a perfect Valentine's Day for many people. Some rain and cloudy weather is expected on Friday too.

"The national capital witnessed moderate amount of rain accompanied by strong winds throughout the day with some areas recording intense spell of rain and thundershowers," Kuldeep Srivastava, regional head of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told IANS.

He added that areas like Ayanagar, Narela, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, and Faridabad witnessed a hailstorm on Thursday morning. "Although it was not as intense as it was on February 7, there was some amount of hail in isolated areas," he said.

Apart from the Delhi-NCR region, Srivastava said that Agra and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, as well as some places in Rajasthan and Uttrakhand also recorded some hail on Thursday morning.

Owing to the frequent spell of rain, six flights were diverted in Delhi on Thursday morning.

GoAir G8 709, which was coming from Ahmedabad was diverted to Jaipur while Vistara UK 946 was diverted to Lucknow in the morning.

According to the IMD, Delhi recorded 1.3 mm of rain till 8.30 a.m. with humidity levels reaching 96 per cent.

Due to clouds covering the sky and high humidity levels, the minimum temperature on Thursday was 13.9 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average.

The maximum, on the other hand, was recorded at 23 degrees Celsius - a notch below the average - against the forecast of 19 degrees Celsius. "We were expecting the rain to be continuous throughout the day but since it wasn't, the maximum temperature rose," an IMD official said.

Meanwhile, people in Delhi welcomed the rain and took to social media to express their excitement. While one Twitter user wrote: "Delhi weather today perfectly sums up Valentines Day mood", another user called it "rain of love".

Some rain is expected on Friday too.

"Now, the western disturbance is drifting away from Delhi. On Friday, there will be some rain in the morning with clouds covering the sky throughout the day," Mahesh Palawat, Director of private weather agency Skymet, told IANS.

He said that the overall air quality of Delhi, which was recorded in the 'very poor' category at 4 p.m on Thursday, will start to improve by Friday afternoon and reach moderate or poor levels.

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) also said that the air quality index (AQI) of Delhi will improve to "moderate" by late Friday and will remain so till Sunday.