Spells of drizzle fail to moisten Republic Day celebrations

NEW DELHI: Winter's intermittent drizzle added its own flavour to this year's Republic Day celebrations as the spectators arrived in strength to witness celebration of the Constitution.

Earlier there was no forecast of rains but a low pressure system, which built above Rajasthan yesterday, led to the light showers.

According to Meteorological department, rain gauges measured 1.4 mm of rains in the city till 8:30 AM. A similar weather conditions are expected to remain for the next three days.

"There was no forecast of rains initially but a cyclonic circulation which pumped moisture from Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea caused the formation of a low pressure system over Rajasthan yesterday," M Durai Sami, in-charge of Regional Weather Forecasting Centre told PTI.

This system resulted in rains over Delhi and surrounding areas. One or two spells of light rains/thunderstorms are expected today and similar weather conditions will prevail for the next couple of days, he added.

The minimum temperature settled at 11.6 degree Celsius which was three notches above normal for this part of the season.

Humidity was recorded at 97 per cent at 8:30 AM. Dense fog was witnessed in the morning which in addition to the overcast conditions and rains caused low visibility hitting rail operations. Railway officials said that while 33 north-bound trains were running late, two were cancelled.

Flight operations were already shut at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as no plane was allowed to land or take off here during the time of the Republic Day parade.

Weatherman said that it would be a generally cloudy sky which will turn partly cloudy afternoon onward and the maximum temperature is expected to be around 17 degree Celsius.

Yesterday, the maximum and minimum temperature had settled down at 18.3 and 8.5 degrees, respectively.

In addition to Delhi, areas in south Haryana, eastern Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are also expected to receive rainfall in the next 72 hours, he said.