NEW DELHI: The much-awaited monsoon, originally forecast for June 25, finally made its dramatic entry into Delhi-NCR on Saturday afternoon. As dark, brooding clouds swept across the skies, several parts of the region were drenched in heavy showers, bringing much-needed relief from the scorching heat.

The spell of rain, accompanied by gusty winds and thunderstorms, brought the city to life — and briefly to a standstill — as the first real signs of the season washed over the capital. Delhi remains under an orange alert, which, as per IMD’s colour code, means “be prepared.”

Following the downpour, waterlogging and a traffic jam nearly 1 km long were reported near Tigri on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. Vehicles were stuck for over an hour, causing significant inconvenience to commuters. Heavy traffic was also witnessed on the BRT road in Chirag Delhi.

Social media buzzed with videos of rainfall from several locations, including Delhi Airport, RK Puram, Dwarka, Noida, and Gurugram. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 28.7°C, 0.8 degrees above the seasonal average.

The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 37°C. Relative humidity was recorded at 72 per cent at 8.30 am on Saturday. According to IMD’s forecast, the next six days will bring mostly cloudy skies, with chances of light rain and thunderstorms.

From June 30 to July 4, the maximum temperature is expected to remain around 37.4°C, while from July 5 to 9, it is likely to hover around 36.6°C.

Earlier in the afternoon, IMD had issued a warning on X (formerly twitter), predicting moderate to heavy rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds (40–60 km/h) across parts of Delhi, NCR, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and eastern Rajasthan.