Delhi Feels Winter Chill As Cyclone Arnab Brings Heavy Overnight Rains, Red Alert Issued; 75 UP Districts On Alert

Weather News: Cyclone Arnab's impact has been felt in many states, including Delhi-NCR, since yesterday. Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram saw a sudden spell of showers on Thursday. The NCR region woke up to a cool Friday morning after overnight rainfall, bringing in the winter chill. It lowered the minimum temperature significantly to approx 17.2 degrees Celsius. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the overnight showers drenched Delhi, recording its highest rainfall for the month since 2022, and making it the wettest October day.  Delhi received 61.4 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours that ended at 8.30 AM today. Consequently, the AQI also came down to satisfactory level.

The weather is likely to remain the same across Delhi-NCR, including Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad. The Regional Meteorological Centre in New Delhi has forecast cloudy skies with spells of light to moderate rain, thunderstorms and lightning. A few places may even see heavy rain during the night. The wet conditions could continue into Friday, with scattered showers and a chance of moderate rain in some areas.

Delhi Under Red Alert For Next Few Hours

The IMD issued a red alert for the national capital for the next few hours, indicating more rain and thunderstorms across several parts. The next three hours could see widespread rain across Delhi, with thunderstorms and lightning expected in many areas. The IMD has also warned that a few places may get intense downpours. Due to the chance of severe weather, a red alert has been issued for the entire capital, covering southeast, east, central, northeast, south, southwest, west, northwest and north Delhi, as well as Shahdara and New Delhi.

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UP Weather Update

The IMD has issued an alert for 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh on Friday. An alert for heavy rain has been issued for 21 districts, including Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Moradabad. Thunderstorms are likely in other districts.

A cloudy sky with strong winds was observed in Lucknow this morning. On the afternoon of October 29, the city saw light rain. In Meerut and Kashi, there was heavy rain during the evening. Light rain was recorded in 18 districts, including Ayodhya, Ghaziabad and Gorakhpur.

ALSO READ: Is Winter Arriving Early? IMD Issues Alert As Rain, Snowfall Set To Trigger Sharp Temperature Drop Across North India

Heavy Rain Alert In Jharkhand, Sikkim, Other States

The weather department has also issued a warning for heavy to very heavy rain in Jharkhand, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and eastern Uttar Pradesh. At the same time, officials have flagged a possible flash flood risk in several low-lying and vulnerable areas till Friday. The districts on alert are Korba, Surguja and Balrampur in Chhattisgarh, Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Sambalpur in Odisha, Palamu and Simdega in Jharkhand, East and West Champaran, Rohtas and Bhojpur in Bihar, and Sonbhadra, Ghazipur and Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Cyclone Arnab's Impact

The severe cyclonic storm Arnab wreaked havoc in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and the surrounding states. Andhra Pradesh suffered a loss of approximately Rs 4,600 crore according to an initial assessment. Rail services were also disrupted on the Howrah-Chennai route. Many trains were cancelled, diverted, regulated or rescheduled.

The Odisha government on Thursday placed more than 300 teams for rescue operations in Ganjam and eight other districts. Similarly, the Andhra CM N.Chandrababu Naidu made an aerial inspection of the affected areas in the Krishna and Godavari regions.

Although Cyclone Arnab has weakened, its remnants are impacting the weather conditions across several states, triggering heavy rain and thunderstorms.