Delhi witnessed thunderstorms and rain on Tuesday night following a short-term weather alert issued by the Meteorological Department India Meteorological Department (IMD). The Meteorological Department expected the capital to witness bad weather conditions between 8:10 p.m. and 11:10 p.m., warning that most parts of the city would witness light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorms.
According to the alert, it is possible to encounter some areas A severe storm, with wind speeds reaching 60-80 km per hour and gusting to 90 km per hour, in addition to lightning and the possibility of hail. In some pockets, relatively weaker thunderstorms with wind speeds of 40-60 kilometers per hour are also expected.
As expected, stormy weather conditions developed in several parts of Delhi, resulting in strong winds, rain and lightning that hampered evening traffic and briefly affected outdoor activities in many areas.
Wind speed across Delhi
Strong winds affected Delhi during the storm, with the highest wind speed recorded at 98 kmph in Palam, while Safdarjung and Pusa recorded 72 kmph, and other stations reported lower wind gusts of 30-46 kmph.
According to IMD data, the rain was very light and widespread across the city. Most stations like Safdarjung, Lodhi Road, Ridge, Ayanagar, Pitampura, Mayur Vihar, Jafarpur and Janakpuri recorded minimum rainfall.
Overall, the storm was mainly driven by strong winds rather than heavy rains, causing brief but severe weather conditions across Delhi.
The IMD administration asked residents to be careful during the warning period. Hazards include falling trees, power outages, and transportation disruption due to high wind speeds and lightning activity.
The weather calmed down after a few hours, but provided a short period of respite from the heat.
Mobile heat relief units
Last week, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta rolled out 13 mobile heat relief units in all areas of the city to help residents cope with rising summer temperatures.
The initiative aims to provide chilled drinking water, oral rehydration salts packs, first aid support, hats and towels in hot and high-traffic areas over the next three months, and provide on-the-ground relief to vulnerable groups during peak summer conditions.
The mobile units will operate daily from 11 am to 6 pm and will cover vulnerable locations such as labor bottlenecks, bus stands, markets and slum clusters across Delhi, officials said.
Each unit has a cold water tank with a capacity of 400-500 litres, and is supported by civil defense volunteers deployed throughout the areas. The government also plans to distribute thousands of packets of oral rehydration salts, along with towels and cotton caps, daily as part of the programme.
