A climatological study of thunderstorm days without rainfall at IGI airport during the monsoon season

A thunderstorm is one of the most severe weather hazards impacting aviation services in India. The flight operations at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi, are highly dependent on the possibility of thunderstorm occurrence over or in the vicinity of the aerodrome. During the monsoon season, the atmosphere becomes moist and unstable, so the probability of dry thunderstorms decreases, and thunderstorms often occur with rain. However, there are days when a dry thunderstorm occurs, even during the monsoon season. An attempt has been made to study the climatology of dry thunderstorm (TS) days by a comparative analysis of such days against the days with thunderstorms and rain (TSR). A significant correlation has been observed between thunderstorm days, rainy days, average rainfall, and maximum temperature for September in comparison to other months of monsoon.