Torrential rain in Delhi not due to cloudburst: IMD

The torrential rain that brought Delhi to its knees last week was not a result of a cloudburst, the India Meteorological Department clarified on Monday. Addressing a press conference, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the Safdarjung Observatory, the city's primary weather station, recorded 91 mm rainfall between 5 am and 6 am on June 28.

Similarly, the Lodhi Road weather station logged 64 mm from 5 am to 6 am and 89 mm from 6 am to 7 am.

"These do not warrant to be declared as cloudbursts, but it was very close to a cloudburst," Mohapatra said.


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Explaining the reason behind the extreme weather event, the IMD had earlier said multiple large-scale monsoonal weather systems created conditions for mesoscale convective activity over Delhi NCR, resulting in intense thunderstorms and heavy rainfall during the early hours of June 28.

This activity was supported by thermodynamic instability in the atmosphere, which is favourable for thunderstorms.

The Safdarjung Observatory recorded 228.1 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Friday, more than three times the June rainfall average of 74.1 mm and the highest for the month in 88 years -- since 1936.

The IMD defines very heavy rain as rainfall amounting to between 124.5 and 244.4 mm in a day.