Delhi sees sporadic light rains, humidity levels shoot up

NEW DELHI: The national capital received sporadic light rains on Tuesday as high humidity continued to trouble residents. The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 8.6 mm rainfall till 5.30pm. The Lodhi Road and Ayanagar weather stations recorded 3.2 mm and 1.3 mm precipitation, respectively.
Rainfall below 15 mm is considered 'light', and between 15 and 64.5 mm is categorised as 'moderate', and above 64.5 mm is 'heavy'.
The city recorded a maximum of 36.8 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, the meteorological department said.
Humidity levels shot up to 92 per cent, it said.
Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted 'moderate to heavy rains' in the city from Sunday evening to Wednesday.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said a spell of intense rains is likely on Wednesday.
After more than normal rainfall in July, the monsoonal precipitation has remained subdued in Delhi in August so far.
The Safdarjung Observatory has recorded just 22.5 mm rainfall in August so far against the normal of 101.6 mm, a deficiency of 78 per cent.
The Palam and Lodhi Road weather stations have recorded 48 per cent and 78 per cent less rains, respectively this month.
In July, Delhi had gauged 236.9 mm precipitation, which was 12 per cent more than the normal of 210.6 mm precipitation.