Artificial Rain in Delhi Air Quality Sees Mild Improvement Post Light Rains, Anticipating Further Showers Today

Throughout the night of Thursday and Friday, a lot of rain fell in some parts of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and other nearby areas of the National Capital Region (NCR), providing a necessary relief from the poor air quality that had been present over the past few days

SUMMARY

• Parts of Delhi-NCR received rainfall on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday
• The showers come amid Delhi government’s ongoing efforts to implement the idea of ‘artificial rain’ to curtail pollution
• Visuals from the Kartavya Path, ITO, and the Delhi-Noida border showed light to moderate-intensity rain showers

Throughout the night of Thursday and Friday, a lot of rain fell in some parts of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and other nearby areas of the National Capital Region (NCR), providing a necessary relief from the poor air quality that had been present over the past few days।

The national capital’s recent showers are a result of the city government’s ongoing efforts to implement the concept of “artificial rain” in order to reduce the city’s pollution level।

Images captured from the Kartavya Path, ITO, and the boundary between Delhi and Noida revealed light to moderate rain showers. In the meantime, the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was less than 100 this morning compared to 400+ during night at multiple monitoring locations.

#WATCH | Delhi witnesses sudden change in weather, receives light rain

(Visuals from Kartavya Path) pic.twitter.com/YeGPH70uAD

— ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2023

On Friday morning, light to moderate intensity intermittent rainfall is expected over and around Delhi-NCR, including Rajiv Chowk, ITO, India Gate, Akshardham, Safdarjung, RK Puram, and Lajpat Nagar, according to the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC).

There’s also a chance of showers in Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Jind, Panipat, Mattanhail, Jhajjar, Farukhnagar, Kosali, Mahendargarh, Narnaul, Hodal (Haryana), Meerut, Modinagar, Kithor, Bulandshahar, Jahangirabad, Anupshahar, Bahajoi, Pahasu, Debai, Narora, Gabhana, Atrauli, Aligarh.

In order to lower the AQI of the nation’s capital, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai met on Wednesday with a group from IIT-Kanpur to explore the feasibility of creating artificial rains using cloud seeding. Following the meeting, the minister announced that if the clouds persisted, artificial rain may be employed on November 20–21.

According to authorities cited by PTI, the Delhi government has asked the chief secretary to present the government’s position before the Supreme Court on Friday. The government has also agreed to cover the full expense of artificial rain in order to address harmful air pollution in the city.

The Delhi government announced on Thursday that it can set up the city’s first artificial rain by November 20 if the Center approves of the proposal.

Cloud seeding is a technique that creates artificial rain by releasing materials into the atmosphere to promote condensation and precipitation. Dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), potassium iodide, and silver iodide are the materials most frequently used for cloud seeding. These substances serve as the nuclei that allow water vapor to condense and eventually create rain or snow.

This method of modifying the weather has been used all around the world, but mostly in areas that are facing drought or water constraints.