Delhi-NCR under thunderstorm alert as monsoon peaks, flights may be hit

The India Meteorological Department has issued a warning for heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms across Delhi-NCR, covering Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, as the monsoon hits its seasonal peak.

Low-lying parts of the capital region are likely to see waterlogging as the active weather system passes through, the alert said.

Thunderstorms paired with gusty winds of this kind have previously led to flight delays and passenger advisories from airlines operating out of Indira Gandhi International Airport this monsoon season.

The IMD also warned of wider impact nationally, flagging landslide and flood risk in Kerala’s Wayanad hills from sustained heavy rain, and winds of around 50 km/h for coastal cities including Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore.

Additional heavy rainfall alerts were issued for parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.

Travellers flying through Delhi are advised to check their flight status directly with the airline and factor in extra time to reach the airport while the thunderstorm warning stays in effect.

In Kerala, the IMD flagged landslide and flood risks for the Wayanad hills from continuous heavy rain, while Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore face coastal winds of around 50 km/h.

Uttar Pradesh cities including Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur, along with Bihar’s Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur, Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, and West Bengal’s Kolkata and Siliguri were also placed under heavy rainfall alerts.

Airlines typically advise passengers to check flight status directly through official apps or websites and to allow extra travel time to the airport during active thunderstorm warnings, given the potential for air traffic control-driven delays.

The southwest monsoon typically remains active over North India through August and into early September, meaning further rounds of thunderstorm and heavy-rain alerts affecting Delhi-NCR flight operations remain likely in the coming weeks.

IGI Airport, one of India’s busiest, has repeatedly seen carriers such as IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet issue passenger advisories during comparable spells of monsoon thunderstorms and high winds earlier this season.

Photo by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0