Delhi likely to receive rain ahead of cloud seeding planned on Oct 29

DElhi is expected to have illume rain down on mon and tues, ahead of the cloud seeding activity that the government plans to carry out on Wednesday, October 29 , when skies are likely to remain cloudy over the city. Delhi's air quality remained in the very poor category on Monday. As per readings in Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Sameer app, cited in a PTI news agency report, localities such as Bawana and Anand Vihar recorded severe air quality with Air Quality Index (AQI) readings of 401 and 431, respectively.According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi recorded minimum temperature of 17.3 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees above the season's average, while the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 29 degrees Celsius. Out of 38 monitoring stations across the city, 23 reported very poor air quality with readings above 300, on Monday morning.Cloud seeding in DelhiClouds is described as a weather modification technique that improves a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by introducing tiny ice nuclei into certain types of subfreezing clouds. Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday said that the city was ready to carry out cloud seeding on October 29. She made the announcement after a test run was held over Burari on the same day. Officials, cited in an earlier HT report, said an aircraft, which flew to Delhi from Kanpur via Meerut, Khekra, Burari, Sadakpur, Bhojpur, Aligarh, and back to IIT Kanpur, aimed to test the capabilities of the plane for cloud seeding and assess preparedness, ahead of a full-fledged attempt.While silver iodide and sodium chloride compounds, used to induce artificial rains, were also released from the aircraft, there was limited moisture in the air — less than 20 per cent — with seeding often requiring moisture up to 50%, meaning no rain occurred in the area.The government, relying on IMD forecasts, had said more moisture will be available during this western disturbance spell. A government official said there was no change in the plans. “So far, the deadline remains October 29,” the report quoted an official.Coldest Oct Day in last 2 yearsOn Sunday, the city's air quality had marginally improved to the poor category after remaining very poor for most of the day, while the minimum temperature settled at 15.8 degrees Celsius - the lowest recorded in October in the last two years.In October 2023, the minimum temperature dipped to 15.9 degrees Celsius and settled at 17.4 degrees Celsius in the same month the previous year.CPCB categorises an AQI between 0 and 50 as "good", 51-100 "satisfactory", 101-200 "moderate", 201-300 "poor", 301-400 "very poor", and 401- 500 "severe".