Delhi receives light drizzle, humidity persists; weather likely to remain same through week

For the fourth consecutive day, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 38.6°C on Sunday, which is around normal for this time of the year.

High humidity persisted on Sunday, with drizzling in isolated parts of the city keeping the mercury below the 40-degree mark and improving the air quality, but making it feel much hotter than what numbers showed.

Clouds seen hovering over the skies at Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Sunday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Drizzling is likely to continue till Tuesday due to the impact of western disturbances, and the weather conditions are likely to remain unchanged through the week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

For the fourth consecutive day, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 38.6°C on Sunday, which is around normal for this time of the year. However, a relative humidity of 58% kept the heat index, or “real feel” temperature, beyond the 45-degree mark for the second day at around 47°C. A day earlier, the maximum temperature stood at 39.2°C, while the HI stood at 46°C.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 28.6°C, a degree above normal, at Safdarjung, the base weather station.

In the 24 hours between 8.30am on Saturday and Sunday, Safdarjung recorded “trace” rainfall, with no rain recorded in the next nine hours, data till 5.30pm on Sunday showed. Palam recorded 1.6mm of rainfall till 8:30am on Sunday, Lodhi road recorded “trace” rainfall while Ayanagar recorded 2.9mm of rainfall. Between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Sunday, rainfall was recorded in parts of southwest, west and north Delhi, with “trace” rainfall recorded at the Ridge, 3.5mm at Najafgarh and 5.5mm at Pusa.

“Some drizzle was recorded in the early hours, while another spell was witnessed around the afternoon. The moisture content has risen, leading to humid weather. There are chances of a drizzle in some parts on Monday and Tuesday too, with similar weather to persist,” said a met official.

No rain is expected from Wednesday onwards, but cloudiness and high humidity will continue till Saturday, met officials said, adding that the maximum will remain below 40°C.

On Sunday, the highest maximum across the city was 40.4°C, at the Delhi University station. The lowest maximum temperature was 35.8°C at Palam. Gurugram recorded a high of 35.6°C, while Faridabad and Noida recorded 41.8°C and 37.8°C respectively.

HI is a calculation that represents how warm it feels to a person in the shade and prolonged exposure to a heat index of 26-32°C will likely cause fatigue in many people, while 32-40°C is widely associated with sunstroke, and 40-54°C with heatstroke.

“Forecasts till June 24 show that the maximum will hover between 38 and 39°C,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Capital’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) climbed to the “satisfactory” range at 90, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin released at 4pm. A day earlier, the AQI at the same time was 119 (moderate). The AQI is forecast to return to “moderate” from Monday onwards, with long-range transport of dust expected to impact the air on Wednesday.