Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 27 (IANS) The skies opened up and it rained finally in the capital Friday, bringing relief to a parched city after days of watching the dark clouds play truant. The weatherman has predicted more rains Saturday.

The city received a total of 12 mm of rainfall from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Friday.

The welcome rains saw most people get out of their homes and offices or on to terraces to watch the rain drops fall pitter-patter and feel the rain on their faces.

“I think our wait for the rains has come to an end and this is the real monsoon,” said Rohit Raghav, watching the rain from his office in south Delhi.

Though traffic was slow, especially on flyovers due to cars slowing down with the rain water collecting at the base, no one was complaining.

According to the Delhi Police, slow traffic and waterlogging led to jams in some parts of the city. The worst affected were August Kranti Marg, Arjun Nagar, Nehru Place, Andrews Ganj, Siri Fort auditorium in south Delhi, Mori Gate and Chirag Dilli in central Delhi and Tis Hazari in north Delhi.

The day’s maximum temperature was 35.3 degrees, a notch above average, while the minimum was 28.7 degrees, two notches above average.

The humidity levels wavered between a high of 87 and a low of 62 percent.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the capital will get rains again Saturday.

“The skies will be cloudy and one or two spells of rains will hit the city,” said the IMD official, adding that the maximum and minimum temperature will hover around 34 and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The national capital has seen a rain-deficit of 64 percent this season.

Thursday’s maximum and minimum temperatures both settled a notch above the average at 33.2 and 27.7 degrees Celsius, respectively.