New Delhi, February 29: Rains lashed several parts of the national capital on Saturday, bringing down temperature. Over a dozen flights were diverted from the Delhi airport due to inclement weather. The maximum temperature settled at 27.3 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 16.2 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season's average, a senior MeT official said.

A Delhi airport spokesperson said 14 flights were diverted to Lucknow, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Jaipur due to bad weather. Till 8:30 pm, Safdurjung and Palam observatories recorded 18.5 and 14.8 mm rainfall, the official said. Delhi Rains: Heavy Rainfall Lashes Delhi-NCR Region, Waterlogging, Traffic Jams Cause Inconvenience to Commuters.

According to the MeT department, the rainfall happened due to a western disturbance, a cyclonic storm that originates in the mediterranean region and brings sudden winter rain to northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Next active western disturbance likely to effect northwest India between March 4 and March 6. Rain and thunderstorm accompanied with hailstorm will occur over western Himalayan regions as well as plains of Northwest India during the period.

Under influence of this western disturbance, rains and thunderstorm accompanied with gusty wind and hailstorm, at isolated places, very likely to occur over Delhi-NCR between the evening of March 5 and 6, they said. The humidity was 100 per cent at 5.30 PM.

The air quality of the national capital was 132 which comes under moderate category. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.

The MeT department has forecast partially cloudy sky with light rains on Sunday. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to settle around 25 and 14 degrees Celsius respectively.