Delhi records warmest May night in 14 years

Delhi experienced its warmest May night in 14 years with temperatures above 32°C, while dust from Rajasthan worsened air quality.

New Delhi: Delhi recorded its warmest May night in 14 years on Monday with the overnight temperature hovering above 32°C even as dust creeping in from Rajasthan further worsened the air quality and led to a haze-like situation.

Delhi’s base weather station, Safdarjung, logged a minimum temperature of 32.4°C — six degrees above normal — on Monday (HT)

Delhi’s base weather station, Safdarjung, logged a minimum temperature of 32.4°C — six degrees above normal — making it the warmest night for Delhi since May 27, 2012, when the minimum surged to 34.2°C, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

This exceeds the minimum temperature of 31.9°C that Delhi recorded on May 21, making it the season’s first warm night. The IMD classifies a night as “warm” when the maximum temperature in the plains exceeds 40°C and the minimum temperature’s departure is 4.5°C or more above normal.

The maximum temperature on Monday was recorded at 43.5°C — 3.3°C above normal, though it missed heatwave criteria. Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) stood at 254 (poor) at 4pm on Monday. It was 205 (poor) at the same time on Sunday.

The IMD has issued a “yellow” alert for possible isolated heatwave conditions in the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by slight relief from heat starting Thursday.

“Temperatures are likely to hover between 43-45°C until Wednesday, before a western disturbance starts impacting northwest India on May 28. Widespread light rain, accompanied by gusty winds is likely on May 28 and 29, with chances of rain even till May 31,” said an IMD official.

The highest maximum temperature in the city on Monday was 44.3°C at the Ridge station.

IMD classifies it as a “heatwave” when the maximum temperature exceeds 40°C and the departure is 4.5°C or more above normal, or if the maximum temperature reaches over 45°C in the plains.

As of 5:30pm on Monday, no weather station in Delhi had recorded any rain.

While the IMD issued a yellow alert for possible dust-raising winds in Delhi at 6pm on Sunday, the impact was felt around 9:30 pm.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, said that with southwesterly winds blowing, some dust remained in the upper-levels of the atmosphere and is likely to be flushed out only by Tuesday. “We also had some moisture due to a cyclonic circulation and trough, which led to some isolated drizzle in parts of NCR,” he said.

Forecasts show Delhi’s minimum is likely to stay high, hovering between 30 and 32°C until Wednesday. It is expected to hover around 31-33°C on Thursday. The maximum temperature, meanwhile, is forecast to stay between 43 and 45°C till Wednesday; hover between 42-44°C on Thursday, but dip and oscillate between 35-37°C on Friday.