Delhi weather update: Rain, hailstorm bring some respite to people amid severe heatwave

New Delhi: Hailstorms and rain lashed parts of Delhi on Wednesday afternoon bringing some respite to residents here amid the intense heatwave conditions here. According to reports, rainfall was reported in isolated areas of the national capital, providing big respite from the intense heatwave.

People in East Delhi, Rohini, Pitampura, Paschim Vihar and several other areas reported hailstorms around 2 pm along with a bout of rain and strong winds.

Earlier in the morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a yellow alert, warning of a dust storm, thunderstorm or hail storm with winds gusting up to 50 kilometres per hour in the national capital.

It later updated the alert to the orange category. The Met department uses four colour codes for weather warnings -- "green" (no action needed), "yellow" (watch and stay updated), "orange" (be prepared) and "red" (take action).

The maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's base station, is likely to settle around 38 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was recorded at 28.8 degrees Celsius which was four notches above normal for this time of the year.

As a result of a western disturbance affecting northwest India, a cloudy sky is predicted over the capital for the next three days, the IMD had said. The mercury is set to rise by four to five notches over the next six days. However, no heatwave is predicted. 

Several users took to Twitter to share pictures and videos as rains battered the dry and dusty roads in Delhi.