Delhi sizzles at 42.5°C, heat to rise over weekend

Saturday is likely to be hotter as the weather office has forecast heatwave in isolated parts of the city where temperatures might inch towards 45°C.

After starting the month on a relatively cool note, Delhi on Friday saw a sudden rise in temperature after a combination of clear skies and low wind speed shot the mercury beyond the 44 degree-mark in parts of the Capital — its highest so far this summer.

The hottest location was Najafgarh at 44.1°C. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

A day ago, the maximum temperature stood at 38.6°C.

Saturday is likely to be hotter as the weather office has forecast heatwave in isolated parts of the city where temperatures might inch towards 45 degrees Celsius (°C). The day might also witness dust storms, and drizzling at some places. Similar weather conditions are likely to prevail on Sunday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Safdarjung, which is representational of Delhi’s weather, recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with mercury touching 42.5°C — three degrees above normal for this time of the year. On Thursday, the same stood at 38.6°C.

However, the hottest location was Najafgarh (44.1°C), followed by Pusa (43.9°C).

Prior to Friday’s spike in heat, the city recorded below-normal temperatures on all days on the back of two western disturbances which have brought in 50.8mm of rainfall so far this month. In fact, Delhi’s maximum has been below normal since April 19, when the maximum was 39.8°C — a degree above normal.

The hottest day so far this year has been April 17 at 40.6°C recorded in Safdarjung.

IMD scientist Kuldeep Srivastava said the sharp rise in temperature is mainly due to drop in moisture and wind speed, with clear skies allowing rapid surface heating.

“Winds are not strong at the moment and we have little moisture. There will be further rise in temperature on Saturday by another degree or so,” he said.

IMD has also forecast a western disturbance in northwest India over the weekend, but officials said it will do little to influence the temperature. Instead, it will bring a dust storm to the national capital region on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

“Days will be extremely warm. The dust storm will develop late towards the evening and night-time. While moisture content is less, some locations may record a drizzle. We will see similar weather on Sunday with an extremely hot first half of the day, followed by a dust storm towards late evening and night,” Srivastava added.

The maximum was not much different across NCR, with Gurugram recording a similar high of 42.5°C, while it was 41.9°C at Noida.

Historically, May is Delhi’s hottest month, with the maximum touching an all-time high of 47.2°C on May 29, 1944. Last May, the maximum touched 45.6°C at Safdarjung, while it went as high as 49.2°C at Mungeshpur — an automatic weather station in northwest Delhi.

Met officials say that mercury is not likely to dip below the 40-degree mark in the next six days.

Despite the scorching heat during the day, Delhi’s night-time temperature was fairly cool at 19.3°C — six degrees below normal for this time of the year. On Thursday, the same was 19.9°C. However, with warmer days ahead, the low too is expected to rise by another 1-2 degrees over the weekend, edging close to 24 degrees by May 18, Srivastava said.

The dust storm, meanwhile, is expected to send Delhi’s air quality into the “very poor” category on Saturday, based on forecasts. Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 227 (poor) at 4pm on Friday. It was 274 (poor) a day earlier.

The Central Pollution Control Board classifies an AQI between 0-50 as “good”, between 51 and 100 as “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 as “moderate”, between 201 and 300 as “poor”, between 301 and 400 as “very poor” and over 400 as “severe”.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to deteriorate and reach the very poor category on Saturday. The air quality will once again improve on Sunday, but it will be in the poor category,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, which is a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.