Hot, dry Loo-like winds blow over NW India instead of humid easterlies

The normal date for monsoon to set in over Delhi is June 27. It is delayed by 3 days and is likely to be further delayed by a week, according to IMD

Loo-like dry, hot westerly winds from central Pakistan region are blowing at about 20 to 30 kmph over the Capital and other parts of northwest India that are especially strong in May and the first half of June before monsoon arrives and temperatures fall marginally, and heat wave conditions dissipate.

A hawker waits for customers on a hot day near India Gate, in New Delhi. (HT archive)

But this time, hot, gusty dry winds are blowing over the region in June-end. “These are winds associated with heat wave. They are hot dry winds blowing from Pakistan. We cannot say they are unlikely in June because heat waves are recorded in early and mid-June,” said M Mohapatra, director general, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

“The pressure gradient is very high so strong westerly winds are blowing. Easterly winds did not set in because monsoon weakened and did not cover the northwestern region entirely. We are not expecting monsoon to progress for at least a week,” explained K Sathi Devi, head, national weather forecasting centre, IMD.

“These are Loo winds which are commonly experienced in May and early June. It’s very unusual to record them in July or the fag end of June. The wind speed at Palam in Delhi is around 40 to 45 kmph. Till Tuesday, the winds were easterly at the lower level and westerly at the higher level so it was a mix of humidity, dry winds making conditions extremely uncomfortable. The temperature is also very high,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate change and meteorology at Skymet Weather.

The normal date for monsoon to set in over Delhi is June 27. It is delayed by 3 days and is likely to be further delayed by a week, according to IMD.

The northern Limit of monsoon (NLM) continues to pass through Barmer, Bhilwara, Dholpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Ambala and Amritsar. It has been in the same position for over a week now. “Prevailing meteorological conditions, large scale atmospheric features and the forecast wind pattern by dynamical models suggest that no favourable conditions are likely to develop for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab during the next five days,” IMD said in its bulletin on Wednesday.