Flights grounded at Delhi airport after dust storm hits national capital

Representational image (File photo)

NEW DELHI: The flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport have been put on hold, due to the thunderstorm on Sunday. As many as 10 flights have been diverted at the airport so far.

A dust storm accompanied by squall hit the national capital after a scorching hot morning bringing down the mercury.

A Delhi bound Vistara flight which was heading to Srinagar was diverted to Amritsar following the bad weather conditions.

In a sudden change of weather, the sky turned cloudy around 4:30 pm and gusty winds swept the city.

However, the temperature in the morning at 8:30 am was recorded at 30.6 degrees Celsius while the humidity was recorded at 60 per cent, a Meteorological (Met) department official said. 

The Met office has forecast light rains will follow the dust storm.

On Saturday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall.

It had also forecast parts of Rajasthan might see dust storm.

Thunderstorm over these hill-states states and its subsequent effect on plains in north Indian is due to a new western disturbance, the IMD had said. 

"Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds are also very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Vidharbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Kerala," the IMD had said in an advisory said.

With inputs from agencies)