Maximum temperature approaches 30°C, could dip this week
Delhi's temperature hit 29.7°C, highest this year, 5 degrees above normal. Expect cooler days ahead as rain is forecasted, pushing max down to 23°C by Wednesday.
Delhi’s temperatures remained on the uptick on Sunday, with the maximum touching 29.7°C, the highest so far this year and five degrees above normal, showed data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
However, the days are likely to get cooler between Monday and Wednesday, said the weather agency, predicting that a western disturbance will bring the Capital rain and push temperatures down significantly.
“A western disturbance is expected to start impacting Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) from Monday evening and there are chances of a drizzle late at night. Much of the rain is expected on Tuesday, with light to moderate showers likely in Delhi. There is a possibility of some drizzle on Wednesday,” said an IMD official.
Temperatures in the city have inched upwards for days as a chilly winter gives way to what promises to be a hot summer. Delhi’s maximum temperature was 26.5°C on Saturday, 27.2°C on Friday (which was the previous highest this year), 26°C on Thursday and 25°C on Wednesday.
Sunday’s maximum temperature, however, is not unusual for this time of the year.
On the same day last year, Delhi’s temperature hit a maximum of 29.6°C and it was 29.8°C a day earlier. In fact, the maximum during this month last year peaked at 33.6°C on February 21. Last February was also the city’s warmest February in 17 years, in terms of the average maximum temperature.
The highest in February 2022 maximum was 28.4°C (February 19), and the year before that, it was 33.2°C (February 26). In 2020, the peak February temperature was 27.8 (February 14).
Showers at the start of the week will likely push the maximum down to 27°C on Monday, to 24°C on Tuesday and bottom out to 23°C on Wednesday, said IMD. This is then likely to hover between 24°C and 25°C for the rest of the week.
The city clocked a minimum temperature of 8.6°C on Sunday, two degrees above normal. It was 7.4°C a day earlier.
Nights will get warmer over the next three days, though, with IMD forecasting minimum temperatures of 10°C-11°C over the next three days.
The rain is also likely to help Delhi’s air quality, which has remained “poor” for the last few days. Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was 269 on Sunday at 4pm. It was 245 (poor) at the same time on Saturday.
Forecasts by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi show that the air quality index (AQI) could improve to “moderate” on February 20 and remain in this range on February 21 as well.