Light showers expected in a few days, could bring Delhi a cooler start to April
A Western disturbance could bring some much welcome rain to Delhi in the coming week, cooling temperatures as April begins.
A weather phenomenon that brings rains to India’s northern states could hit Delhi within the next few days and bring down temperatures in the capital experiencing an unusually fiery start to the summer season, an official forecast said on Saturday.
The predictions by the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) could soothe frayed nerves in a city of 16 million people who were bracing for temperatures as high as 40 degree Celsius over the next few days.
The mercury had shot up to 37.4 degree Celsius on Thursday, making it the hottest day of March since 2010, and was projected to rise further.
Met experts, however, said rains and drizzle could be just a few days away.
“It is because of this approaching western disturbance that the sky over Delhi would turn partly cloudy and the city would be saved from experiencing the hottest day (of March) of this decade. Without this the mercury level could have shot up further and touched 40 degrees by March 31,” Vishan added.
Western disturbance is a scientific term used to describe a storm originating in the Mediterranean that brings sudden rain-bearing clouds to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Delhi had seen a dramatic rise of temperatures over a five-day period last week. It experienced an eight-degree rise in the mercury with a pleasant spring giving way to conditions as harsh as the city’s extreme summer.
The weatherman blamed it on hot and dry north-westerly winds sweeping across the city.
“The western disturbance, which hit north India a few days ago, couldn’t trigger rains in Punjab and Haryana. These areas have become dry. When the north-westerly winds, coming from across Pakistan, are blowing over this region they are getting heated up. These hot winds are then sweeping across Delhi and pushing the mercury up,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, another scientist with the RWFC.
Temperatures in some places in Rajasthan have already touched 39 degree Celsius and are likely to cross 40 degrees by this weekend or early next week.
The hottest March day ever recorded was on March 31, 1945, when the temperature shot up to 40.6 degrees Celsius.
The rising mercury level is in line with the forecast of the Indian Meteorological Department, which has said that the 2017 summer will be harsher and the next couple of months will see above-normal temperatures.