Monday warmest December 18 in 7 years: Met officials

The minimum temperature on Monday was 9.8 degree Celsius while the maximum was 25.6 degree Celsius.

Monday was the warmest December 18 in seven years, the Met department said.

According to the Met department, the minimum for the day was just about right for this time of the year even as the maximum temperature is likely to touch 23.6 degree Celsius later in the day. (Sanjeev Verma/HT FILE)

On Monday, the maximum temperature was 25.6 degrees, three notches above normal, while the minimum temperature was 9.8, two degrees above what is normal this time of the year.

“This maximum temperature was the highest on December 18 in seven years. In 2011, it was 22 degrees, 23 in 2012, 20 in 2013, 20 in 2014, 21 in 2015, 22 in 2016. Earlier, cold north westerly winds were coming from Jammu and Himachal Pradesh. Now the wind direction is westerly and the wind to Delhi is coming from Pakistan and Punjab. Therefore, the temperature is increasing,” a Met official said.

The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 25 and 11 degree celsius, respectively, on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, partly cloudy sky is expected with mist in the morning.

“There is no possibility of rain though. The temperature, however, will rise a bit further. The minimum might reach 12 degrees Celsius, while the maximum will be around 25 for the next 3-4 days. However, the air quality will remain in the current levels because of good wind speed. On Monday, the wind speed stayed at 15-16km/hour,” Kuldeep Srivastava, a senior Met department scientist, said

The levels of PM10 and PM2.5 saw slight increase throughout the day. While PM10 concentration went up from 175.7μg/m3 at 7am to 193.1μg/m3 at 7pm, the level of PM2.5 saw nominal hike from 100.8μg/m3 at 7am to 112.5μg/m3 at 7pm.

Both PM10 and PM2.5 are ultra fine particles that are the dominant pollutants in Delhi. The acceptable levels of PM10, the larger particulate matter, and PM 2.5, which measures the finer and more dangerous particulate matter, are 100μg/m3 and 60μg/m3 respectively.

The PM2.5 particulates, which can measure up to 30 times tinier than the width of a human hair can reach the bloodstream of a person through the respiratory system and pose serious health risks.