Brace for the chill, says Met: Delhi temperature may fall below 5°C this weekend

Mercury levels at the Safdarjung weather station, Delhi’s base station, fell to 7.7°C in the early hours of Friday. The day’s maximum temperature, meanwhile, was 20.4°C, two below the season’s normal.

Residents of the Capital have been advised to brace for the chill, with temperatures set to fall to around 5 degrees Celsius this weekend, scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

New Delhi: Indira Gandhi International Airport enveloped in smog on a winter day, in New Delhi, Thursday, Dec. 02, 2021. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma) (PTI12_02_2021_000135A) (PTI)

Mercury levels at the Safdarjung weather station, Delhi’s base station, fell to 7.7°C in the early hours of Friday. The day’s maximum temperature, meanwhile, was 20.4°C, two below the season’s normal.

At the Palam observatory, the maximum temperature fell to 18.4°C — four below normal.

The minimum temperature fell to 5.3°C at Jaffarpur in outer Delhi, while they hovered around the 6°C mark at several places in the city, including Lodhi Road (6.1°C) and Aya Nagar (6.6°C).

“The temperature over the weekend is likely to fall slightly to around 5-6°C. The trend of dipping temperature was seen across many states in north India, and similar recordings are likely over the weekend,” said a senior Met official.

Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather Services, said this drop in temperatures in Delhi was because of the cold winds blowing from the northern side of the country. On December 21-22, temperatures could increase slightly under the impact of a western disturbance, he said.

The cold and strong northerly winds on Friday also helped ease the Capital’s pollution levels marginally, even as it stayed in the ‘very poor’ zone for the fifth straight day, owing largely to the dipping temperature.

The city’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) on Friday was 329, considered to be in the ‘very poor’ range. On Thursday, the average AQI of the city was 368, also ‘very poor’.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.

“Strong winds helped improve the air quality a little. Improvement will be visible on Saturday as well,” said VK Soni, head of IMD’s environment and research centre.