Mercury crawls past 40°C in Delhi; IMD forecasts further rise

IMD's Safdarjung observatory, considered representative of the city, recorded 40.2 degrees Celsius on Saturday -- around normal for this time of the year and nearly a degree up from a day ago -- even as parts of Delhi witnessed light rain in the evening.

The relatively cool streak owing to the rainy spell earlier this week seems to have given way to warmer days ahead as the maximum temperature breached the 40-degree mark on Saturday after seven days.

On Saturday, the temperature at 10 out of the 11 weather stations breached the 40-degree mark. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times)

India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Safdarjung observatory, considered representative of the city, recorded 40.2 degrees Celsius (°C) on Saturday -- around normal for this time of the year and nearly a degree up from a day ago -- even as parts of Delhi witnessed light rain in the evening. The minimum temperature was recorded at 26.9°C.

According to IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum temperature is expected to soar further to 41°C and the minimum temperature will hover around 27°C on Sunday. While light rain is expected in some areas in the next two days, it is unlikely to deter the rise in mercury, said officials.

Earlier on Monday, the temperature came down significantly on account of rain and thunderstorm, which saw wind speeds touch 60 km/hr.

Met officials said the wet spell on Monday and Tuesday occurred due to an active western disturbance (WD) prevailing across the region, following which the temperature stayed below 40 degrees for the most part of the week on account of easterly winds and rain in neighbouring parts of Delhi.

On Saturday, the temperature at 10 out of the 11 weather stations breached the 40-degree mark. The hottest spots were Pitampura (42.4°C), Sports Complex (42.2°C), Mungeshpur (42.2°C), and Najafgarh (41°7 C). At 38.9°C, the weather station at Mayur Vihar recorded the lowest temperature.

IMD scientist RK Jenamani said partly cloudy weather will prevail in the Capital on Sunday too, and heatwave conditions were unlikely till the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the air quality on Saturday stayed in the “poor” category with a reading of 210, up from the 206 recorded on Friday.

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’. The air quality is expected to improve in the next few days on account of increase in wind speed.

On Saturday, the Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), said that the AQI is likely to stay in the lower end of poor or moderate category over the next few days. “AQI on Sunday indicates ‘lower end of moderate’ air quality with PM10 as the primary pollutant… For the next three days (May 29-31), peak wind speed is likely to be around 18 km/hr causing moderate dispersion and AQI is likely to be within ‘moderate’ or ‘lower end of poor’,” stated the forecast.

Moderate temperature above 40°C and a mixing layer height of 3km will also play a role in maintaining moderate ventilation and improving air quality, the forecast added.