The India Meteorological department (IMD) has forecast very light to light rain in Delhi throughout the day owing to western disturbance influencing the region, while the city’s air quality improved to ‘moderate’, aided by gusty winds.
The minimum temperature in the Capital fell slightly to 18.4°C on Friday, which was 5.9°C above normal. However, it was a marginal decrease from Thursday’s 19.5°C, which was the highest minimum in February from 1951-2025, according to data shared by the IMD.
Sharing satellite images of convective clouds associated with the western disturbance over northwest India, the IMD said, “Light rainfall or drizzle (30-50 kmph gusty wind) is very likely to occur at few places of Delhi…”
According to the forecast, light rain is also expected to occur over the weekend, following which there might again be a dip in the minimum temperature.
The maximum, which was recorded at 25°C on Thursday, is likely to be around 22-24°C on Friday.
“Overcast skies often trap the heat and prevent it from escaping during night, leading to warmer nights. Cloudy skies are forecast to continue throughout next week, though no rain is likely after the weekend,” an IMD official said.
Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, improved to 111 (moderate) at 9 am on Friday, as compared to the 24-hour average of 215 (poor) at 4pm on Friday. It was 247 (poor) at the same time on Wednesday.
Forecasts by the Centre’s Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, under the ministry of earth sciences, said the AQI would remain in the ‘moderate’ range on Friday.
“Air quality is likely to be in the ‘moderate’ category from February 28 till March 1. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows AQI will remain ‘moderate’,” the EWS said.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies AQI between 0 and 50 as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’, and over 400 as ‘severe’.
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