From 40°C to 29°C In Minutes! Dust Storm Sweeps Through Delhi, IMD Sounds Red Alert; Rain Next

New Delhi: A powerful squall with wind speeds touching 91 kmph battered parts of Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a Red Alert from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which warned of thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds and heavy rainfall across the national capital over the next few hours.

According to the IMD, Palam recorded the highest wind speed of 91 kmph at 2:30 pm, while Safdarjung logged gusts of 52 kmph. The weather event caused a dramatic drop in temperatures, with Palam witnessing an 11-degree Celsius plunge from 39.8°C to 28.8°C within minutes.

The IMD's latest nowcast, valid for the next 2-3 hours, has placed several parts of Delhi under a Red Warning, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds of around 60 kmph and heavy rainfall exceeding 15 mm per hour.

The districts under the highest alert include New Delhi, South Delhi, South East Delhi, South West Delhi and West Delhi.

The weather office said thunderstorms and lightning accompanied by winds of 40-60 kmph and moderate rain are also likely across other parts of the NCR region, including adjoining districts of Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

Visuals from across the capital showed massive dust clouds sweeping through roads and residential areas as strong winds reduced visibility and disrupted normal movement.

Monsoon Push Behind Weather Shift

The dramatic weather change comes as the Southwest Monsoon continues its advance across the country. The IMD announced on Tuesday that the monsoon has further progressed into Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the remaining parts of Telangana and Odisha, and additional areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Meteorologists said the clash between intense surface heating over northwest India and moisture-laden monsoon winds created highly unstable atmospheric conditions, triggering severe dust storms and thunderstorm activity over Delhi-NCR.

Lightning Alerts Across Several States

The IMD's lightning monitoring network also detected intense lightning activity across multiple states, including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana.

In Delhi, lightning activity was specifically reported in the southern parts of the city, prompting authorities to advise residents to stay indoors and avoid taking shelter under trees or weak structures.

Advisory for Residents

The IMD urged residents to stay indoors during thunderstorms and dust storms, avoid unnecessary travel, keep away from trees, electric poles and weak structures, follow traffic advisories and local administration warnings and avoid open spaces during lightning activity.

Weather officials said more thunderstorm activity is likely over northwest India as the monsoon continues its northward march, raising the possibility of additional spells of gusty winds and rain in the coming days.