The maximum temperature in Delhi dropped to 23.4 degrees Celsius, 10 degrees below the normal, as the city received the second-highest rainfall since 2007 in 24 hours till 8.30 am on Sunday, reported The Indian Express. The normal maximum temperature at this time of year in the national capital is 33.8 degrees Celsius.

The city’s Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative data for the national capital, recorded 74.3 millimeters of rain in the past 24 hours, reported PTI. The observatories at Palam, Lodhi Road, Ridge and Ayanagar recorded rainfall of 64.9 millimeters, 87.2 millimeters, 60.1 millimeters and 85.2 millimeters respectively.

The heavy rainfall in Delhi also led to a record low gap between day and night temperature, ANI reported. The difference between the minimum temperature on Friday (20.8 degrees Celsius) and the maximum temperature on Saturday (23.4 degrees Celsius) was merely 2.6 degrees Celsius. This was the lowest figure in Delhi since 1969, according the weather agency.

The monsoon had receded from Delhi on September 29. The post-monsoon rainfall in the past two days took place due to the interaction of a western disturbance in mid and upper air levels with a deep trough of easterly wind at lower levels, the India Meteorological Department.

Due to the rains, the air quality index in Delhi improved and was recorded in the “good” category at 41 at 2 pm on Sunday, as per data from the Central Pollution Control Board. On October 5, the Delhi’s air quality had deteriorated to the “poor” category, due to which measures under stage 1 of the Graded Response Action Plan were put in place.

The Graded Response Action Plan is a set of emergency measures used to prevent deterioration of air quality beyond a certain threshold.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department on Sunday predicted that heavy rainfall would continue in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan for the next two days.

The agency also predicted heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalseema region for the next five days, and in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the next 24 hours.