New delhi: Delhi has already recorded 56.6 mm rainfall in January, the maximum for the month in 21 years, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Sporadic rains drenched the national capital for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, has already recorded 56.6 mm rainfall this January, Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said.
On an average, Delhi records 21.7 mm in January every year. It had gauged 48.1 mm rainfall in January last year, 54.1 mm rainfall in January, 2019 and 59.7 mm in January, 1999.
The city had registered 69.8 mm rainfall in the same month in 1995, according to IMD data.
On Wednesday, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded 6 mm rainfall till 5:30 pm.
The weather stations at Palam, Lodhi Road, Ridge and Ayanagar gauged 5.4 mm, 6.3 mm, 11.1 mm and 3.6 mm rainfall, respectively, during the period.
The rains, under the influence of a strong western disturbance, come on the back of a "severe" cold wave that gripped Delhi in the run-up to new year, the IMD said.
On Friday, the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years, and "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres.
The western disturbance is also causing widespread snowfall in the hills. Once it withdraws, the mercury will fall again to 4 to 5 degrees Celsius, officials said.
Dense fog is likely in Delhi over the next two days, the IMD said.
The downpour on Wednesday also led to waterlogging at various parts of the city, which affected traffic. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters about traffic congestion.
Around 9.03 am, the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted, "Traffic is affected in the carriageway from Azadpur towards Mukarba Chowk due to waterlogging at Panchwati red light. Kindly avoid the stretch."
In another tweet, traffic police said," Traffic is affected in the carriageway from Peeragarhi towards Mundka due to waterlogging. Kindly avoid the stretch." According to police, traffic was affected in the carriageway from Kamal T-Point towards Zakhira due to waterlogging.