Muggy weather in Delhi; rains likely to return on July 31

New Delhi: Temperature and humidity levels rose in the national capital on Monday due to the absence of rains in the city, the weather department said.

Officials said Delhi's wait for a fresh spell of rains is likely to end on July 31. Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather said the monsoon trough has shifted to Rajasthan and temperatures have increased in Delhi in the absence of widespread rains. The monsoon trough will again move towards the Delhi-NCR region on July 31, bringing more rains, he said.

"There is a cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan which is likely to become less marked by July 31. Enhanced rainfall is likely over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and western Himalayan region from July 31 to August 2," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The city recorded a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above the normal, and a low of 27.1 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels oscillated between 60 and 85 per cent.

Scattered spells of very light rains are predicted on Tuesday. Delhi has recorded 199.2 mm rains from July 1 to July 29, which is around 2 per cent more than the 30-year average of 195 mm, officials said. Overall, it has received 210.4 mm precipitation against the long-term average of 260.5 mm since June 1, when the monsoon season starts, a deficiency of around 19 per cent, IMD data showed.

On July 22, the Safdarjung observatory recorded 50.2 mm rainfall, the heaviest in the monsoon season this year. The weather station at Palam gauged 61 mm precipitation on July 18.