Delhi received a fresh spell of rainfall on Saturday, with thick clouds hovering over the national capital, Gurugram and Noida in the afternoon. East, central, southeast Delhi and other parts of the city received rainfall on Saturday.

The minimum temperature in Delhi settled at 20.1 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal, as per the data by the India Meteorological Department. The relative humidity was recorded at 63 percent at 8:30 am, news agency PTI reported.

The IMD has predicted generally cloudy skies with light rain or drizzle during the day. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 36 degrees Celsius.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted thunderstorm/lightning/gusty winds with "isolated to scattered rainfall over plains of northwest India on May 6". The weather department had also said hailstorm was very likely "over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on May 6-7 and over Punjab on May 6".

'200% excess rainfall in the pre-monsoon period'

According to a PTI report, Delhi has received over 200 percent excess rainfall in the pre-monsoon period -- March 1 to May 31 -- so far due to back-to-back western disturbances in the last two weeks.

The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, has recorded 221 per cent more precipitation (119 mm against a normal of 37.1 mm) during this period.

Normally, it logs 48 mm of rainfall during the entire pre-monsoon period.

Cyclone Mocha

The IMD informed on Saturday that a cyclonic circulation has "formed and lay over the southeast Bay of Bengal and neighborhood". The weather department said a low-pressure area is likely to form by May 8 and a depression around May 9.

In the wake of the cyclone formation. heavy rainfall and storm are predicted in parts of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

(With inputs from PTI)