New delhi, June 26 -- The monsoon played coy with Delhi for yet another day, dodging the city despite a yellow alert and earlier IMD forecasts that it would arrive by Tuesday. As of Wednesday evening, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) pushed its expected date again, now saying monsoon could reach Delhi "in the next 24 hours"-cutting it close to the usual June 27 timeline, but not quite on cue with their own earlier predictions. A yellow alert was in place for Wednesday, warning of rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds, but the city stayed largely dry. A similar yellow alert has been issued for Thursday. "Conditions are favourable for the further advance of the south-west monsoon over more parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and the remaining areas of western Uttar Pradesh in the next 24 hours," the IMD said. On June 20, IMD had said that conditions were becoming favourable for southwest monsoon to reach Delhi by Tuesday. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, former secretary of ministry of earth sciences (MoES), now pegs the likely onset between June 28-29. "IMD models suggest Delhi can experience monsoon onset by June 28-29 and the whole country by June 29-30," he said. According to the IMD, the normal date for monsoon onset in Delhi is June 27. Last year, it arrived a day late on June 28, while in 2023, it had reached the city earlier on June 25. Explaining the holdup, amateur meteorologist Ashwary Tiwari, who tracks storms via his IndiaMetSky account, said hasn't advanced to Delhi yet because the weather system that normally pulls it north is currently stuck too far south, around south-west Rajasthan and Gujarat. "On top of that, dry air higher up in the atmosphere and a weather pattern pushing air away from the region-called an anti-cyclone- over Pakistan, south-west Punjab and north-west Rajasthan have kept rain clouds from forming and moving northward," he said. Meanwhile, Safdarjung recorded a maximum temperature of 34.9degC-2.3degC below normal-and a minimum of 29.6degC, 1.7degC above normal. Gautam Budh Nagar, meanwhile, logged a maximum of 31.8degC, with the minimum at 27.9degC. The Capital's air quality dipped slightly on Wednesday, with an air quality index (AQI) of 132 (moderate) at 4pm, compared to 95 (satisfactory) the day before. Noida, meanwhile, saw a "moderate" 118, with Greater Noida at 139. However, forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System suggest AQI will remain in the satisfactory range for the next three days....