Delhi sees over 500 flight delays following heavy rain, hail — Will national capital witness more disruptions today?

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport witnessed significant flight disruption on Tuesday after of intense rain and hail pounded the national capital. Flight schedules were disrupted as adverse weather conditions made it difficult to operate flights and adhere to planned schedule, Hindustan Times reported citing flight data. Over 500 flights were delays and multiple others diverted on 5 May amid India Meteorological Department's (IMD) orange alert.

The situation was further compounded further by drone attack in the Middle East due to which the number of flight cancellations jumped. According to flight data, chaotic situation prevailed at airport after nearly 500 flights ran later than schedule and at least 10 were cancelled and five diverted to nearby airports.

Flight cancellations were mainly for flights to and from the Middle East due to the recent drone-linked attack. As hailstorm pounded areas around the airport—specifically parts of Dwarka, Palam and Najafgarh, airport authorities diverted flights to nearby airports and delayed operations of several others. The flight tracking website Flightradar24 data indicated an average delay extending as long as 30 minutes for over 500 flights, including both arrivals and departures.

“Five flights were diverted between 2pm and 3.30pm as gusty winds, rain and hail were recorded around the airport. Some flights were delayed too,” HT quoted an airport official as saying. As per the official, Delhi airport saw 10 flight cancellations of those that were scheduled to and from airports in West Asia since 11:00 PM on May 4. “This included six flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Baghdad to Delhi and four flights from Delhi to these locations,” the official added.

Delhi airport also shared an advisory on X, urging passengers to check flight schedules. “Flight operations may be impacted due to a hailstorm near Delhi airport, which could result in delays or short-term disruptions,” the advisory said.

The weather office forecasted possibility of thundery weather conditions towards late evening in view of prevailing western disturbance. According to Meteorological Department, the western disturbance will most likely withdraw by Thursday, and the mercury is expected to spike again. Residents of the national capital can expect gradual rise in maximum temperatures by 4-5°C during the coming 4 days, the IMD said.

“The maximum and minimum temperatures over Delhi are likely to be in the range of 34°C to 36°C and 20°C to 22°C respectively. The minimum temperature will be appreciably below normal (-3.1°C to -5.0°C) at many places, and maximum temperatures will be appreciably below normal (-3.1°C to -5.0°C) at most places over Delhi On Tuesday, ,” IMD in its latest weather bulletin said.

Safdarjung, the primary weather monitoring station, reported 33.6°C maximum temperature which is 5.7 degrees Celsius lower than normal range. According to IMD data, Safdarjung station recorded 4.6 mm of rainfall till 8:30 am and ‘trace’ rainfall in the next nine hours.

Skymet vice president Mahesh Palawat said "A fresh western disturbance has been influencing the region in the past few days, leading to a cyclonic circulation over adjoining areas…there is less possibility of heatwave at least for the next one week."

The Air Quality Index (AQI) on Tuesday settled at 86 in the 'satisfactory' category, making it the cleanest May day in three years, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). CAQM in a post on X said, “Delhi records its lowest daily average AQI of the current year today with average AQI clocking 86 at 4.00 pm.”