New Delhi: Parts of Delhi got rain and a hailstorm early Sunday, bringing the minimum temperature down to 17 degrees Celsius, which is near normal and the lowest of the season so far.The rainfall helped keep the air quality in the moderate category for the second consecutive day. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was at 153 at 4 pm when the Central Pollution Control Board releases its 24-hour average AQI bulletin.The city saw a sudden change in the weather between 11.30pm Saturday and 5.30am Sunday. Krishna Mishra, a scientist at India Meteorological Department, said the city saw very light to light rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning at night. “An isolated hailstorm also occurred over parts of central and south Delhi. An isolated hailstorm was reported at Ferozpur, Sirsa, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad with gusty winds up to 85 kmph over Kaithal. The event may be attributed to a feeble western disturbance and lower level moisture feed from the Arabian Sea,” Mishra said.Till 8.30 am Sunday, Safdarjung, which is the city’s base station, logged 5.4 mm of rainfall, Lodhi Road 5.8 mm, Mayur Vihar 3.5 mm, Naraina 6 mm, Rajghat 1 mm and Palam 0.2 mm of rainfall. In this month so far, Safdarjung has clocked 61.9 mm of rainfall, when the entire month’s normal is 15.1 mm.The Met department has said rain is unlikely from Monday to Wednesday. However, a light rainfall spell is likely to occur during Oct 29-30.Due to cloudiness, the minimum temperature dropped to 17 degrees Celsius, making it the coolest morning of the season.On Oct 19, the minimum reached 17.1 degrees Celsius. In Oct last year, the lowest minimum temperature was 15.8 degrees Celsius.The rain also cleared Delhi’s air. The AQI stayed in the moderate range for the second consecutive day after three straight poor-AQI days. However, the respite is temporary as the air quality is predicted to become poor Monday.Oct 2025 saw four satisfactory air days with the lowest AQI of 73.
