<p>New Delhi: With a thunderstorm battering the city in the early hours of Sunday and dumping 81.4 mm of rain in just a few hours, Delhi recorded its wettest May since record-keeping began in 1901, according to the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/india-meteorological-department">India Meteorological Department (IMD)</a>.</p>.<p>The month's cumulative rainfall has now touched 186.4 mm, surpassing the previous all-time record of 165 mm set in May 2008.</p>.<p>The storm, which struck around 2 am, brought gusty winds peaking at 82 kmph, leading to widespread waterlogging, uprooted trees, and major disruptions at the airport.</p>.Dust storm sweeps Delhi-NCR after scorching day.<p>Delhi's Sunday rainfall alone -- classified as "heavy" by IMD standards -- also made it the city's second-highest 24-hour May rainfall ever recorded, after the 119.3 mm logged on May 20, 2021. Temperatures nose-dived overnight, with the mercury plunging 10 degrees at Safdarjung - from 31 to 21 degrees Celsius within 75 minutes.</p>.<p>The weather office said the unusually intense storm was the result of the interaction between moist southeasterly winds and dry westerlies, further intensified by three active weather systems: a western disturbance over north Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and two upper air cyclonic circulations - one over northwest Uttar Pradesh and north Haryana, and another over west Rajasthan.</p>.<p>The city had earlier seen 77 mm of rain on May 2, according to the data.</p>.<p>Though no colour-coded alert has been issued for the coming days, the IMD has forecast intermittent light rain and thunderstorms with winds up to 50 kmph to persist through the week.</p>.<p>Sunday's maximum temperature settled at a cool 31.6 degrees Celsius, nine notches below normal, while the minimum was 19.8 degrees Celsius C, seven degrees below the May average.</p>
<p>New Delhi: With a thunderstorm battering the city in the early hours of Sunday and dumping 81.4 mm of rain in just a few hours, Delhi recorded its wettest May since record-keeping began in 1901, according to the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/india-meteorological-department">India Meteorological Department (IMD)</a>.</p>.<p>The month's cumulative rainfall has now touched 186.4 mm, surpassing the previous all-time record of 165 mm set in May 2008.</p>.<p>The storm, which struck around 2 am, brought gusty winds peaking at 82 kmph, leading to widespread waterlogging, uprooted trees, and major disruptions at the airport.</p>.Dust storm sweeps Delhi-NCR after scorching day.<p>Delhi's Sunday rainfall alone -- classified as "heavy" by IMD standards -- also made it the city's second-highest 24-hour May rainfall ever recorded, after the 119.3 mm logged on May 20, 2021. Temperatures nose-dived overnight, with the mercury plunging 10 degrees at Safdarjung - from 31 to 21 degrees Celsius within 75 minutes.</p>.<p>The weather office said the unusually intense storm was the result of the interaction between moist southeasterly winds and dry westerlies, further intensified by three active weather systems: a western disturbance over north Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and two upper air cyclonic circulations - one over northwest Uttar Pradesh and north Haryana, and another over west Rajasthan.</p>.<p>The city had earlier seen 77 mm of rain on May 2, according to the data.</p>.<p>Though no colour-coded alert has been issued for the coming days, the IMD has forecast intermittent light rain and thunderstorms with winds up to 50 kmph to persist through the week.</p>.<p>Sunday's maximum temperature settled at a cool 31.6 degrees Celsius, nine notches below normal, while the minimum was 19.8 degrees Celsius C, seven degrees below the May average.</p>