IMD issues red alert in Delhi for heavy rain; Noida, Ghaziabad also experience downpour

Delhi and its adjoining areas experienced a rainy afternoon on Friday, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to elevate the yellow warning for the city to a red alert, cautioning of more rains accompanied with thunderstorms.File image: Dark clouds hover over the Qutub Minar during light rain in Delhi (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)Along with Delhi, Uttar Pradesh's Noida and Ghaziabad were also placed under an orange warning by the IMD, according to the nowcast seen on its website at around 3:30 pm.Delhi on Friday recorded minimum temperature at 25.5 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees above normal, according to station-wise data from Palam, while Lodhi Road recorded 27.6 degrees Celsius, 2.6 degrees above normal.The Ridge recorded a minimum of 23.7 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees below normal, while Ayanagar recorded 27 degrees Celsius, 2.3 degrees above normal.The maximum temperature was expected to hover around 32 degrees Celsius, while humidity was recorded at 75 per cent in the morning hours.The latest spell comes after a wetter-than-normal August for the capital. Delhi recorded 354.1 mm of rainfall between August 1 and August 30 till 5:30pm, more than 120mm above the IMD’s long-period average (LPA) of 233.1 mm for the month, HT earlier reported.The city had also logged excess August rainfall in 2025 and 2024, when it received 400.81mm and 390.3mm, respectively. These were the first instances since 2020 when August rainfall crossed the LPA, with the city recording 237 mm that year.Since 2011, Delhi has crossed the August rainfall LPA only six times — in 2012, 2013, 2020, 2024, 2025 and 2026.