Pre-monsoon showers likely to hit Delhi by June 27

The IMD has, however, forecasted that pre-monsoon showers could hit Delhi around June 27-28

One international flight was delayed by nearly three hours as the day temperature at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport shot up to 44.9 degrees Celsius on Friday, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that pre-monsoon showers could hit Delhi by the middle of next week.

People are seen walking on the Rajpath during rain in New Delhi , India.(HT File Photo)

“IGI Airport experienced heatwave conditions as the temperature nearly touched 45 degrees, which was six degrees above normal. This continued for nearly three hours from 2:30pm to 5pm. One flight was delayed,” said RK Jenamani, who heads IMD’s office at IGI Airport.

A San Francisco-bound Air India flight with 161 passengers on board, which was scheduled to take off at 2pm, could fly only after 5pm due to prevalent weather conditions. This is, however, not the first time that flights have been delayed at the Delhi airport because of high temperature. Usually flights get delayed when temperature shoots up beyond 44 degrees.

A report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 2016 had warned that higher temperatures caused by climate change could have severe consequences on aircraft take-off performance. “The higher the air temperature, the thinner is the air and it becomes more challenging for the plane to take off or land. There is less air beneath the wings for lifting the aircraft and less air to flow through the jet engines,” Jenamani said.

On Friday, several parts of the national Capital experienced a heatwave-like conditions once again after a gap of almost three weeks with the day temperature shooting up beyond 44 degrees Celsius. It was five to six degrees above normal.

At Safdarjung, which is taken to be a representative of the city’s weather, the mercury stood at 42.5 degrees Celsius, which was four degrees above the normal.

The local meteorological department said such conditions are likely to persist at least for the next two-three days. “Hot and dry winds from the northwest, a clear sky and low velocity winds have forced the temperature to shoot up,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, a senior scientist with the regional weather forecasting centre.

The IMD has, however, forecasted that pre-monsoon showers could hit Delhi around June 27-28.

“We are expecting pre-monsoon showers to hit Delhi and other northwestern states around June 27 and June 28. Even though we are not declaring any date for the arrival of the monsoon, but it won’t get delayed too much,” said M Mohapatra, who heads the forecasting services at the IMD.