Photo by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
IMD warns Delhi-NCR of thunderstorms as monsoon peaks, flights may face delays
The IMD has warned of heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds in Delhi-NCR as the monsoon peaks, conditions that have previously triggered flight advisories at IGI Airport.
The India Meteorological Department has warned Delhi-NCR, including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, of heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms as the monsoon hits its peak.
The alert cautions that low-lying parts of the capital region are likely to see waterlogging as the active weather system passes through.
Similar conditions, thunderstorms paired with gusty winds, have previously led to flight delays and passenger advisories from airlines flying out of Indira Gandhi International Airport this monsoon.
The IMD also flagged landslide and flood risk for Kerala’s Wayanad hills from continuous heavy rain, with coastal cities Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore expected to see winds of about 50 km/h.
Heavy rainfall alerts were also issued for parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.
Passengers flying through Delhi are advised to check their flight status directly with the airline and allow extra time to reach the airport while the thunderstorm warning remains active.
IGI Airport, one of India’s busiest, has repeatedly seen carriers such as IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet issue passenger advisories during comparable spells of monsoon thunderstorms and high winds earlier this season.
In Kerala, the IMD flagged landslide and flood risks for the Wayanad hills from continuous heavy rain, while Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore face coastal winds of around 50 km/h.
Uttar Pradesh cities including Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur, along with Bihar’s Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur, Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, and West Bengal’s Kolkata and Siliguri were also placed under heavy rainfall alerts.
Airlines typically advise passengers to check flight status directly through official apps or websites and to allow extra travel time to the airport during active thunderstorm warnings, given the potential for air traffic control-driven delays.
The southwest monsoon typically remains active over North India through August and into early September, meaning further rounds of thunderstorm and heavy-rain alerts affecting Delhi-NCR flight operations remain likely in the coming weeks.
Photo by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0