Rains lashed parts of Delhi and its adjoining areas of Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad on Wednesday morning, bringing the mercury down and causing traffic snarls at multiple intersections.

“The minimum temperature was recorded at 9.3 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal,” a MeT official said.

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08 January: #Thunderstorm accompanied with hail & #lightning very likely at isolated places over #Uttarakhand, #Punjab, #Haryana, #Chandigarh, #Delhi, East #Rajasthan, #UP, #MadhyaPradesh, #Vidarbha, #Chhattisgarh;

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According to Skymet Weather, the conditions are favourable for rain in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Light drizzle began around 8 am in some parts here and was expected to cover more parts as the day progressed.

Rains in the last two-three days have improved the air quality and air quality index (AQI) in most parts of Delhi was recorded in ‘moderate to poor’ category on Tuesday.

“However, as rains are likely to take a backseat after the next 24 hours, once again bad air quality may set in,” Skymet said.

Delhi –NCR is also expected to witness severe fog conditions once the weather cleared up. Humidity level was recorded at 100 per cent.

The Safdarjung observatory received 6 mm rainfall, Palam observatory recorded 5.3 mm while the the Ridge area received 6.8 mm rainfall. The rainfall recorded at Lodhi Road and Aya Nagar observatories was 10 mm and 5.6 mm respectively.

The weatherman has predicted heavy downpour throughout the day with possibility of hailstorm in isolated areas.

“The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle around 16 and 8 degrees Celsius respectively,” the official added.

Around 11 am, the mercury was hovering around 13 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was likely to be around 16 degrees Celsius. Following the rain activity, the minimums were expected to drop further 4 to 5 degrees owing to the cold and dry north-westerlies.

However, these rains would not continue for long and the weather was expected to go dry quickly, in the next 24 hours. Amid the dipping mercury, Delhi will witness dense to a very dense layer of fog, leading to poor visibility levels.

The direction of these north-westerlies might once again change around January 11, as weather models are indicating the approach of another Western Disturbance. This system would bring along a fresh spell of rain and thundershowers for Delhi and NCR on January 12 and 13.

According to railway officials, 16 trains were running late in the Northern Railways division due to bad weather.