Overnight rain and hail on Sunday brought Delhi’s minimum temperature to 17°C, the lowest this season. The India Meteorological Department said more light rain is likely by the end of the week. As temperatures fell, air quality improved to the moderate category, though it may turn poor by Monday.
Overnight rain and hail in isolated places on Sunday brought down the minimum temperature in Delhi to 17°C, the lowest this season, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The forecast showed minimum temperatures are likely to further drop in coming days with another spell of light rain likely by the end of the week.
An IMD official said very light to light rainfall was observed at a few places with thunderstorms and lightning over Delhi during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. "Isolated hailstorm also occurred over parts of central and south Delhi, and over Ferozpur, Sirsa, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad with gusty winds up to 85 kmph over Kaithal. The event may be attributed to a feeble western disturbance in middle and upper tropospheric levels and lower level moisture feed from the Arabian Sea," said an IMD official.
Delhi recorded 4.4mm rainfall at Safdarjung till 8.30am on Sunday, 5.8mm at Lodhi Road, and 0.8mm at Delhi Ridge, as per IMD.
The air quality also improved by 38 points, within the "moderate" category. The average 24-hour air quality index (AQI) on Sunday was logged at 153 on Sunday, an improvement from 191 on Saturday -- both in the "moderate" category.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
According to the IMD forecast, the minimum temperature in the coming days may drop further to 15-17°C. "The next light rainfall spell is likely to occur during 29-30 October," said the official.
Besides, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System, Delhi's air quality is likely to fall to the "poor" category on Monday.
"The air quality is likely to be in the 'poor' category from 26.10.2026 to 28.10.2026. The outlook for the subsequent six days: The air quality is likely to be in the 'poor' to 'moderate' category," the forecast said.
Among the other weather stations, the minimum temperature was 16.7 degrees Celsius at Palam on Sunday, 16.4 degrees at Lodhi Road, 16.2 degrees at the Ridge and 17.2 degrees at Ayanagar. The Ridge recorded the lowest minimum temperature among the five stations.
The maximum temperature was 29.4 degrees Celsius at Palam, 31 degrees at Lodhi Road, 31.4 degrees at the Ridge and 30.8 degrees at Ayanagar. The Ridge recorded the highest maximum temperature among the stations.
Relative humidity was recorded at 61% at 5.30 pm.