No rain relief yet as Delhi continues to sweat it out

With the relative humidity of 68%, the city had a wet-bulb temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperature in the Capital dropped by nearly four degrees on Saturday even as hot and humid conditions prevailed with the city recording no rain during the day.

File image (Hindustan Times)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius, one degree below the normal temperature for this time of the year. The minimum temperature on Saturday was 30.5 degrees Celsius, three degrees above the normal temperature.

With the relative humidity of 68%, the city had a wet-bulb temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. The wet-bulb temperature takes into account maximum temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation, and is calculated in the sun (under direct sunlight). Wet-bulb temperatures of over 32 degrees make it difficult for even fit and acclimatised people to work outdoors.

IMD has forecast generally cloudy sky with moderate rain and thundershowers on Sunday. According to IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 33°C on Sunday while the minimum temperature may touch 26°C.

Mahesh Palawat, director at Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said that there are chances of light to moderate rain during the night or early morning on Sunday. “Parts of Haryana and Rajasthan received rain on Saturday. The western end of the monsoon trough axis is travelling north due to which humid winds from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are feeding moisture. On account of this activity, we expect rain activity to commence over Delhi by late night or early morning,” said Palawat. He added that rain might abate by Monday even though the cloud cover might persist.

The air quality on Saturday deteriorated and entered the “moderate” category with an air quality (AQI) reading of 110. On Friday, the AQI was in the satisfactory category with a reading of 94. 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, according to CPCB.