Mercury resumes its climb in Delhi, may hit 40°C by month-end, says Met

Delhi is also likely to end the month with no rainfall, with no showers likely in the next seven days. While the normal monthly rainfall mark is 15.9mm, Delhi is yet to get a single rainy day so far this March.

The mercury in Delhi shot up by around two degrees on Sunday, after falling to 34.5 degrees Celsius (°C ) the previous day, on the back of strong winds

Artists perform 'Twist of Fate' street show showcasing giant puppets, as part of Bonjour India 2022, at Lodhi Garden in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The temperature rose to 36.8°C at Safdarjung (considered Delhi’s base station) on Sunday — five degrees above normal for this time of the season. This was largely due to wind speeds dropping back to normal. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that the temperature will rise by another degree or two in the next four days, with Delhi likely to end March with a high between 38 and 39°C, it said.

Safdarjung was not, however, the warmest area in Delhi, with the temperature in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura over two degrees higher, at 38.7°C.This was followed by the Yamuna Sports Complex in east Delhi (38.5°C). Meanwhile, the relative humidity meanwhile oscillated between 21% and 68% in the last 24 hours.

“There was temporary respite on Saturday as the mercury dipped largely due to wind speeds of 30-40 km/hr. Winds 45km/hr strong were also recorded at Palam, which provided some respite. But a drop in the wind speed has again led to a spike in mercury, which can get close to 39 or 40°Cby the end of the month,” said RK Jenamani, scientist at IMD.

He said Delhi is also likely to end the month with no rainfall, with no showers likely in the next seven days. While the normal monthly rainfall mark is 15.9mm, Delhi is yet to get a single rainy day so far this March. The city recorded 3.6mm of rainfall last March. In comparison, February and January both saw excess rain this year.

Delhi received 88.2mm of rainfall in January — the most in 121 years. The next month, Delhi got 29.7mm of rainfall, the most in eight years.

The Capital’s hottest day of the year so far was on March 20, when the mercury touched 38.3°C at Safdarjung and 39.9°C at two other stations. Records show that Delhi generally tends to record its warmest March day in the last week of the month.

Last year, Delhi recorded a high of 40.1°C on March 30. In 2019, it touched 39.2°C on March 31, while 2018 saw a high of 38.6°C on March 29.

“We can expect a similar trend, with the 38.3°C peak recorded so far likely to be breached,” said Jenamani.

Strong winds over the past 24 hours also gave Delhi cleaner air, with pollution levels improving to the ‘moderate’ category. The overall air quality index (AQI), as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily 4pm bulletin was 195 (moderate) on Sunday, an improvement from 207 (poor) in comparison on Saturday.

As per Safar, a government forecasting agency, Delhi’s air is largely dominated with the coarser PM10, generally composed of dust. The air quality is likely to oscillate between the ‘poor’ and ‘moderate’ levels in the next three days as well.

“Air quality is in the ‘moderate’ category with dust dominating (PM10 component is around 64%). For the next three days, AQI is likely to be within the ‘moderate’ or in the low end of the ‘poor’ category due with moderate winds of around 12 km/hr expected. There is also possibility of dust intrusion from the western region on 28th and 29th but AQI will still not touch ‘very poor’.” it said.