Delhi Temperatures Drop by 8 Degrees After Squall Line Brings Rain and Wind

Delhi experienced a sharp temperature drop and sudden rainfall on Friday after a fast-moving squall line swept across north India, bringing relief to residents in areas like Safdarjung, Palam, Lodhi Road, and Ayanagar. The weather system, consisting of a continuous chain of intense thunderstorms, traveled from Punjab through Haryana overnight to bring sudden cooling to the national capital despite the broader emergence of El Niño.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the temperature dip was caused by a squall line that developed over Punjab on Thursday evening. The system moved eastward across Haryana and into the Delhi-NCR region overnight, bringing light to moderate rainfall and strong winds.

Krishna Mishra, a senior scientist at the IMD, explained that a squall line is a fast-moving, continuous line of thunderstorms that can extend across hundreds of kilometers. These systems are capable of producing intense, short-lived weather events, including torrential rain, frequent lightning, and damaging straight-line winds.

During this weather event, southeasterly winds gusting up to approximately 65 kmph prevailed over Delhi. The squall line also brought strong winds to other regions, including gusts reaching 111 kmph in Sangrur, Punjab.

The storm had a dramatic impact on local temperatures, causing minimum temperatures across Delhi to fall by around 7 to 8 degrees Celsius within a 24-hour period.

Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 22.8 degrees Celsius on Friday. This mark was 5.2 degrees below normal and 7.2 degrees lower than the previous day.

Other stations across the capital recorded similar drops. Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 21.6 degrees Celsius, which is 6.5 degrees below normal. Meanwhile, Lodhi Road and the Ridge recorded minimum temperatures of 22 degrees Celsius and 20.9 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The storm also brought varying amounts of precipitation to the capital. During the 24 hours ending at 8:30 AM on Friday, Ayanagar recorded the highest rainfall at 12.4 mm. Safdarjung followed with 11.2 mm, Lodhi Road recorded 9.8 mm, and Jafarpur registered 8.5 mm.

The combination of cloud cover, rainfall, and rain-cooled winds drove the sharp temperature drop. This latest spell is part of an active pre-monsoon season across north India, where Delhi has seen repeated fluctuations between intense heat, dust storms, and thunderstorms.