IMD alert: Mercury rises in Delhi, heat set to continue

Most parts of western Rajasthan, Marathwada and Vidarbha in Maharashtra, and parts of Gujarat continued to suffer from heat waves on Friday and Saturday, with maximum temperatures hovering well over 40 degrees.

The mercury continued to climb in Delhi, as the national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, six degrees above normal, even as most parts of western and northwestern India reeled under a heat wave, according to India Meteorological Department.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, six degrees above normal. 

Most parts of western Rajasthan, Marathwada and Vidarbha in Maharashtra, and parts of Gujarat continued to suffer from heat waves on Friday and Saturday, with maximum temperatures hovering well over 40 degrees.

“High solar insolation and hot air from desert regions are warming parts of northwest India,” said DS Pai, former scientist at the weather bureau, and now director at the Institute of Climate Change Studies, Kerala. “It is also an effect of the anti-cyclone of the region of high pressure that was over southwest Rajasthan that trapped hot air.”

An anti-cyclone is an area of high air pressure that produces calm weather conditions with clear skies. Several parts of northwest India recorded maximum temperatures five to seven degrees above the normal. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 19.8 degrees, three degrees above normal.

“There was an anti-cyclone over southwest Rajasthan. Dry and hot wind from the Thar desert was blowing across parts of north and central India, resulting in a spike in maximum temperatures,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, climate change and meteorology at Skymet Weather, a private forecaster. “Now the anti-cyclone has shifted towards northwest Arabian Sea. The hot westerly winds are still impacting Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra and Vidarbha.”

In Delhi and rest of northwest India, the heat is mainly due to lack of any active pre-monsoon activity that breaks the heat spell, Palawat said. “The minimum temperatures are extremely high over parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.”