People in Delhi-NCR woke up to overcast skies and scattered showers on Tuesday, July 28, a weather shift that brought relief from the uncomfortable humidity that has persisted for days.
After patchy rain earlier this month, a fresh spell of monsoon showers returned, with the IMD issuing an orange alert for continued rain in the next few hours.
Meteorologists further noted that the first morning spell of rain had moved east from Delhi and east NCR, leaving only light drizzle in some spots.
But the day is just getting started.
Fresh thunderstorms are expected to build over Haryana by afternoon, triggering more rain and storms across Delhi-NCR through the evening.
WHY DID MONSOON RAIN RETURN TO DELHI-NCR?
This rain revival comes from a deep depression, which is basically a large, slow-moving low-pressure weather system that formed over the northwest Bay of Bengal and moved inland across Odisha and West Bengal.
The giant system often acts like a pump, drawing warm, moisture-laden winds from the sea and carries it northward over central and northern India, bringing rain.
This system strengthens the monsoon trough, an elongated belt of low pressure that normally runs across northern India during the rainy season.
When the trough sits in its usual position over the plains near Delhi, it pulls air upward. Rising air cools, moisture condenses into clouds, and rain falls, sometimes accompanied by thunderstorms.
Rain “bands” are simply organised lines or strips of heavier showers within the broader cloudy area, moving in a specific direction.
Flat plains like Delhi-NCR spread rain more evenly, while hilly areas further north force the same moist air upward sharply, producing even heavier downpours.
AN UNEVEN MONSOON SO FAR
Earlier weeks brought more isolated or scattered showers because the trough was often positioned farther away, leading to humid but drier conditions despite cloudy skies.
The current active phase is boosted by extra swirling low-pressure areas, commonly known as cyclonic circulations, over places like Rajasthan.
This has revived stronger moisture flow.
In recent decades, Delhi’s monsoon rains have shifted toward shorter, more intense thunderstorm bursts rather than steady, all-day drizzle, a change linked to evolving weather patterns and urban influences.
WILL IT RAIN IN THE COMING DAYS?
While the rains have grown less steady, this spell has brought better news.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also issued a yellow alert for Wednesday, meaning generally cloudy skies with spells of light to moderate rain and thunderstorms shall persist until tomorrow.
Daytime highs should stay cooler at 32-35°C, down from recent peaks near 38°C.
Similar rainy conditions are likely to continue into Thursday and the weekend, helping close any monsoon shortfall for the month.
This active spell shows how a single weather system hundreds of kilometres away can quickly transform conditions over the northern plains by feeding steady moisture into the monsoon trough.
– Ends
