Delhi airport operations affected due to rain, 16 flights diverted

As many as 16 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Monday evening due to bad weather, according to an official.

The flights were diverted between 1800 and 2000 hours. The official said that 10 flights were diverted to Jaipur, three to Lucknow, two to Amritsar and one to Ahmedabad.

Another official said five Air India flights were diverted. Among them, a flight coming from Sydney was diverted to Jaipur.

Parts of Delhi witnessed thundershowers and hailstorms on Monday evening resulting in a slight improvement in the air quality, officials said.

The city's maximum temperature was recorded at 24.2 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average while the minimum temperature settled at 13.4 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season's average.

Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) read 395 at 4 pm. The AQI at 9 pm was 391.

The 24-hour average AQI, recorded at 4 pm every day, was 395 on Sunday, 389 on Saturday, 415 on Friday, 390 on Thursday, 394 on Wednesday, 365 on Tuesday, 348 on Monday and 301 on November 19.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

The humidity levels in the national capital oscillated between 100 per cent and 61 per cent on Monday.

The weatherman has forecast a partly cloudy sky for Tuesday with the possibility of shallow to moderate fog in the morning.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle around 25 degrees Celsius and 12 degrees Celsius respectively.