Delhi Braces for Chilly Winter & Rainfall: IMD Issues Alert

Delhi is likely to see more chilly winter days, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday warned of an intense Western disturbance impact over northwest India from the night of 21 January. Under the influence of prevailing atmospheric conditions, the capital city is likely to witness a fresh wet spell over the next three days. "Isolated to Scattered light to moderate rainfall likely during 22nd-24th January. Thunderstorm activity accompanied with lightning and gusty winds (speed 30-40 kmph) during 22nd -23rd January," IMD said. The weather office issued a yellow alert for a rainfall on 23 January. Partly cloudy weather conditions are expected today. The maximum temperature is likely to settle between 22 to 24°C, while the minimum temperature is expected to hover around 6 to 8°C. The minimum temperatures will be near normal and the maximum temperatures will be appreciably above normal (3.1 to 5.0) over Delhi, IMD said. Predicting shallow to moderate fog during morning hours in the coming week, IMD in its latest weather forecast said, “Mainly clear sky during next 24 hours, partly cloudy sky for subsequent 2 days and on 25 & 26 January 2026 and generally cloudy sky on 23 and 24th January 2026.” Smog blankets Delhi, AQI improves slightly Delhi residents woke up to a blanket of smog on Wednesday morning, but air quality reported slight improvement and stood at 341, falling in the ‘very poor’ category. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport reported 700 metres of visibility at 7:00 AM on Wednesday. Visuals from India Gate, Kartavya Path, ITO, AIIMS and the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Pandav Nagar show dense fog blanketing the capital city. A total of eight monitoring stations out of 39 recorded ‘poor’ AQI today, while the remaining reported ‘very poor’ levels. Predicting more days of ‘very poor’ AQI, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) Programme Lead Mohammad Rafiuddin on Tuesday said, “Delhi's AQI has been in the 'Severe' (AQI > 400) category for the last two days. It is expected to be 'Very Poor' (AQI >300) or worse for the next two to three days due to unfavourable meteorological conditions. The average wind speed is expected to be below 10 kmph and the minimum temperature between 6 and 8 degrees Celsius.”