Mercury to rise further in Delhi, but light showers likely today: IMD

Safdarjung, the base station for Delhi’s weather, recorded a maximum temperature of 40.5°C – a degree above normal for this time of the year.

After a gap of nearly two weeks, the mercury crossed 40° Celsius in Delhi on Friday. Weather department officials said that while temperature is expected to rise further in the coming days, the Capital might get some drizzle on Saturday.

People out on a hot summer day at Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT)

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Safdarjung, the base station for Delhi’s weather, recorded a maximum temperature of 40.5°C – a degree above normal for this time of the year.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that temperatures will continue to rise in the coming days, with the maximum expected to touch 41°C by Sunday and 42°C by Tuesday.

Met officials, however, added that there were chances of drizzle in parts of Delhi on Saturday, owing to a moisture intrusion from Rajasthan.

“While northwest India was receiving northwesterly winds, Rajasthan was receiving easterly winds from the Arabian sea, leading to rain on the Rajasthan and Haryana border. Some of this moisture may move towards the National Capital Region (NCR) and with high local temperature, one or two places may see a drizzle,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.

“The wind direction in Delhi is largely westerly to northwesterly, meaning these are dry winds. The region will also see loo in the next seven days during this spell,” he added.

On Thursday, Delhi’s maximum temperature was 39.9°C. The last time mercury was over 40°C at Safdarjung was on May 23, when soared to 43.5°C.

On Friday, Delhi’s highest maximum temperature was recorded at the Sports Complex station in Akshardham, where it touched 43.3°C. This was followed by a high of 42.9°C at both Pitampura and Najafgarh.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded a minimum of 27.3°C, which is around the normal mark.

Forecast for the weekend shows that the maximum will hover between 40 and 41°C.

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In terms of air quality, Delhi’s air remained in the moderate category, with 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) recorded at 152 (moderate) as per Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4pm. It was 161 (moderate) a day earlier at the same time.

The AQI is forecast to remain in the “moderate” range till Monday now.