India, May 14 -- New Delhi

An intense but short spell of thunderstorm, accompanied by rain and gusty winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour (kmph) speed, hit the Capital late Tuesday afternoon, catching residents off guard and debunking the India Meteorological Department's (IMD's) prediction of a hot day with winds of speed up to 20kmph.

The vigorous rain spell caused waterlogging in isolated parts of the city, in continuation of a fairly wet start to May, which is generally the hottest month of the year. With this spell, Delhi has now recorded 90.8mm in monthly rainfall, nearly three times the long-period average of May, which is 30.7mm. Last May, Delhi recorded only 0.4mm of rainfall.

For Tuesday, IMD had not forecast rain, but a fai...