Sunday hottest of the season as mercury rises above 38°C

On Sunday, Delhi recorded its warmest day of the year so far with Safdarjung, the base station for weather in the capital, touching a high of 38.3 degrees – eight degrees above normal for this time of the year.

It may only be March, but Delhi is already recording temperatures generally seen around May or June.

Children eat ice cream on a hot summer day, at Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Photo)

On Sunday, Delhi recorded its warmest day of the year so far with Safdarjung, the base station for weather in the capital, touching a high of 38.3 degrees – eight degrees above normal for this time of the year. Two other weather stations – the Sports Complex station in east Delhi and Pitampura -- were on the brink of touching the 40-degree mark, both recording highs of 39.9 degrees, close to 10 degrees above normal.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the maximum temperature may fall to 35 degrees by Wednesday. It added that there was no possibility of rain and the mercury was expected to stay between 35 to 38 degrees for the next seven days.

The capital has seen a sharp spike in temperatures over the last 10 days, rising by seven to eight degrees across all stations on an average. Last Thursday (March 10), Delhi had a maximum temperature of 30.0 degrees at Safdarjung, and 29.6 degrees the next day (March 11). Since then, mercury has only risen in Delhi, touching 32.6 degrees by March 13, 34.7 on March 15, 36.1 on March 17 and 36.6 degrees on Saturday (March 19). However, at 38.3 degrees, Sunday was by far the hottest day of the year so far.

The heat was also evident at night time with Delhi recording a minimum of 21.2 degrees Celsius – five degrees above normal. This too is likely to remain above normal for the next seven days, hovering between 19 and 21 degrees Celsius, IMD said.

“This was the hottest day of the season across Delhi-NCR and while two Delhi stations almost touched 40 degrees, Faridabad crossed the 40-degree mark. Even Safdarjung has recorded its hottest day of the year so far and with clear skies and no rain expected in the coming days, there may be no major change in the temperatures,” said RK Jenamani, scientist at IMD.

As per him, a lack of rainfall is the primary cause behind such intense heat. “If it rains, temperatures can drop by 3-4 degrees and it takes multiple days for the heat to return. So far, there has been no rain in Delhi in March,” Jenamani added.

The normal mark for rainfall for the month of March is 15.9mm. Last year, it recorded only 3.6mm rain, which saw Delhi record another warm March as the maximum temperature touched the 40-degree mark towards the end of the month that was eight degrees above normal. In contrast, March 2020 saw Delhi record 109.6mm of rainfall with the highest maximum temperature only touching 33.3 degrees.

Delhi has not been a stranger to unusual heat in March over the last decade though. IMD data shows mercury touched a high 39.2 degrees in March 2019. In March 2018, the highest maximum for the month was 38.6 degrees, and 38.8 degrees in 2017. “If a similar trend continues and there is no rainfall, it could be even hotter by the end of the month,” said another Met department official.

According to the forecast for Monday, another hot day is in store for the national capital. It said that the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung station is likely to be recorded at 37 degrees, and the minimum may be around 21 degrees. It is expected to drop slightly on Wednesday, with the maximum touching 35 degrees, owing to strong surface winds during the day, which could provide a slight cooling effect, IMD said.