New Delhi: The early morning record rain in the city on Friday brought down the temperature by nine degrees Celsius but played spoilsport for festivities and forced the traffic to crawl.
The monsoon, according to the weathermen, has broken 50 years record and is all set to make an all-time record for the city. The forecast of more rain during the weekend is troubling Ramlila committees in the city as the effigies of Ravana and his brothers have already been damaged due to Friday rain.
‘We have registered a record 64.8 mm of rain on Friday, out of which 26.2 mm rainfall was recorded till 8.30 am and rest 38.6 mm till 5.30 pm,’ said M Duraisamy, in-charge, weather forecast at Regional Meteorological Centre in Delhi. ‘The late withdrawal of the monsoon this year is going to make this the longest monsoon season in the city,’ he added.
Normally, the monsoon withdraws from the city by end of September but in the last 70 years only on seven occasions — 2007,1954, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1974 — has the monsoon withdrawn from the national capital region in October. ‘Only two times in 1956 and 1959 the monsoon withdrew on 13 October,’ he added.
As the weathermen have predicted slight to moderate rainfall during the weekend, the previous records are most likely to be broken up. The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 26.1 degree Celsius which was 35.1 degree Celsius on Thursday. Similarly, the minimum temperature was 19.9 degree Celsius which was 23.8 degree Celsius on Thursday.
The maximum temperature on Friday was eight points below normal, while the minimum was one point below normal. The weathermen have predicted the maximum and minimum temperature to hover around 32 and 23 degree Celsius, respectively. ‘The weather would be cloudy with light rain and thunder showers on Saturday,’ predicted the weathermen.
The maximum and minimum humidity on Friday was recorded at 100 and 71 per cent respectively.
But even as the rain made the weather pleasant, it created havoc in Durga Puja pandals and Ram Lila stages. Public also faced inconvenience because of the heavy traffic jam on the roads due to waterlogging, and failure of traffic signals.
The festive spirit was dampened with the Durga Puja and Ramlila pandals suffering losses due to the heavy downpour. ‘We hope the rain will stop by evening so that Ram Lila can be staged. There will be problems of course because there are electric wires around,’ Arjun Kumar of the Lav-Kush Ramlila Committee said, adding, ‘If the rain continues, we will have to stage the show indoors instead of holding it out in the open.’