According to an official, up to 22 flights were diverted at Delhi International Airport on Saturday evening due to poor weather. Nine planes were diverted to Jaipur, eight to Lucknow, two to Chandigarh, and one to Varanasi, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad.
Officials statement
According to the official, among the flights that were diverted were nine IndiGo flights, eight Air India flights, and three Vistara flights.
The official stated that the flights were rerouted between 1500 and 1830 hours.
The national capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) manages about 1,300 aeroplane movements every day.
In many areas of Delhi-NCR today, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall along with thunderstorms.
“Thunderstorm with light to moderate intensity rain with heavy intensity rain over isolated places and gusty winds with speed of 30-50 Km/h would occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR during the next two hours,” according to a post on X.
Forecast
The prediction indicates that mild to moderate rainfall will occur in several places, including Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Mahendargarh, Sohana, Rewari, and others.
According to IMD, several meteorological systems, including a strong western disturbance that was positioned as a cyclonic circulation over Iran and its surroundings, were responsible for the shift.
About the incident
The abrupt shift in the weather has provided much-needed relief from the heatwave that has been sweeping the area for the previous several days. The maximum temperature in Delhi on Friday was 39.4 degrees Celsius, the highest since January.
Final Thoughts
On April 11, the nation’s capital registered 39.1 degrees Celsius, the second-highest maximum temperature of the season thus far. The maximum temperature in Delhi for the last four days has been close to 40 degrees Celsius, according to IMD statistics.
Harsh summer days, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and possibly even 45, are common in mid-May and early June.