Rain plays truant, only light drizzle in capital (Times of India 05 July 2012)

NEW DELHI: Just when conditions seemed ripe for a good shower, the monsoon disappointed Delhi once again with only a light and brief drizzle in isolated parts of the city.

As humidity levels touched an unbearable 73% on Wednesday, accompanied by a day temperature of 41.2 degrees, the Met department said that there are still chances of light rain in the next three days.

"The monsoon has finally started progressing again but its current is not as strong as we had expected. It should have by now covered more parts of northwest India than it has done so far. There are still chances of rain in Delhi over the next three to four days but this will only be light rain. Heavy rains are not expected right now," said Dr RC Vashisht of the IMD.

On Wednesday, the monsoon had progressed into some parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and covered all of Maharashtra. Rainfall on Wednesday for the country stood at 137.8mm, 70% of the normal rainfall for the season till now. Officials added that a light drizzle had fallen over some parts of the city since Tuesday because of which a light cool breeze also persisted for some part of Wednesday.

"The rise in humidity is due to moisture laden easterly winds that are blowing from the Bay of Bengal. No deep depressions can be seen right now, the absence of which is not giving the desired push to the monsoon system. Only cyclonic circulations are present. The monsoon trough is also located more southwards than is beneficial for northwest India. Once this trough moves higher north, which we are expecting will happen in another day or so, northwest India will also start getting rain," said a Met official.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 29.2 degrees on Wednesday, two degrees above normal. The highest temperature in the city was recorded at Palam which saw a maximum of 43 degrees while Pusa saw the lowest maximum of 38.4 degrees Celsius.

"Heat wave conditions have already abated from UP, Jammu, Himachal and Punjab. They exist in some parts of Rajasthan and Haryana but will abate from there as well in the next couple of days. Temperatures are expected to fall by 2-4 degrees from northwest India by the end of the week while rainfall activity should also pick up here," said a Met official.