New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS): After a day's break, light rain returned to some parts of the national capital on Thursday evening. And as per the Met office, there will be dense fog engulfing the city till Sunday.
There are chances of rain or thundershowers in some parts of Delhi on Friday. From Saturday, rain is unlikely but dense to very dense fog will engulf the city till Sunday which will hold the pollutants down, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast said.
This will also keep the city cold, weather officials added.
On Republic Day (Saturday), fog in the morning will cause the visibility in Delhi to drop, but after that there won't be any clouds covering the skies which lessens the chances of rain.
Thursday's minimum temperature was recorded at 9.7 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average. This was in complete contrast to IMD's Wednesday forecast which said that the minimum temperature would drop by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius for the next few days.
On Wednesday, the minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 8 degrees Celsius, the season's average.
The minimum and maximum temperatures on Friday are likely to hover around 10 and 19 degrees Celsius, respectively. However, by the end of the month, the minimum is expected to drop to 4-5 degrees Celsius, while the maximum will remain between 21 and 22 degrees Celsius.
The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi deteriorated to 'very poor' (311) on Thursday after a short spell of 'moderate' air quality (between 101 and 200), owing to rain since Monday.
"There is no appreciable change in wind speed but it is likely to increase marginally to disperse pollutants. However, it will happen very slowly due to other meteorological disturbances," the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research said.
The agency added that the AQI is expected to remain in the same category for the next three days.
In the national capital region, Faridabad at 296, Ghaziabad at 289, Greater Noida and Gurugram at 286, and Noida at 292 turned from 'moderate' to 'poor' on Thursday.