Rain brings relief to Delhi after monsoon arrives five days behind schedule

Several parts of the national capital received light to moderate rainfall on Thursday morning, bringing relief from humid conditions and lowering temperatures across the city.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Delhi is likely to witness a generally cloudy sky with moderate rain during the day. It has also forecast thunderstorms accompanied by rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 22.8 degrees Celsius, 5.1 notches below the season’s average, according to the IMD. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 33 degrees Celsius.

The Southwest Monsoon arrived in Delhi on Thursday, five days after its normal onset date of June 27, bringing widespread rain to several parts of the city.

The IMD said it is for the first time since 2021 that the monsoon has arrived in July.

In 2021, the monsoon had set in on July 13. In the last five years, the southwest monsoon reached Delhi on June 29 in 2025, June 28 in 2024, June 25 in 2023 and June 30 in 2022.

Intermittent showers accompanied by light winds were reported from several areas of the city during the morning, providing respite to residents after days of warm and humid weather.

The city’s air quality remained in the ‘satisfactory’ category, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) standing at 100 at 9 am, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

The weather office has forecast thunderstorms accompanied by rain across many parts of Delhi during the day, with generally cloudy skies expected to prevail.

IMD officials said the monsoon is expected to advance further into several parts of North India in the coming days. A yellow alert has been issued for parts of western and central India due to expected heavy rainfall.

The weather department said conditions remain favourable for the further advance of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of the North Arabian Sea and Gujarat, the remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, and additional parts of Rajasthan over the next two to three days.