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Rain prediction for Delhi in near future? IMD scientist says western disturbance approaching
Delhi recorded its hottest May night in almost 14 years, as the minimum temperature reached 31.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the weather office said.
Delhi-NCR and several areas of north India remain under severe heatwave conditions, while satellite images from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have shown a western disturbance near the northern region of the country.
The weather department had issued an "orange" alert for Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurugram for Thursday. The maximum temperature was likely to stay above 45 degrees Celsius.
Will it rain in Delhi?
A western disturbance has started affecting northern India and the Himalayan region, IMD scientist Naresh Kumar told news agency ANI.
Satellite observations from the INSAT-3DS weather system on May 21 captured a vast expanse of cloud cover near India, mainly across Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The images also showed a strong flow of moisture spreading across the Arabian Sea, along with increasing cloud activity over northeast India and parts of the Bay of Bengal.
In its weather bulletin, IMD said scattered to broken low and medium clouds, along with areas of intense to very intense convection, were present over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. It also said scattered low- and medium-level clouds carrying intense to very intense convection were observed across the central and southern parts of the Arabian Sea.
The western disturbance may lead to rainfall across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh in the coming days. However, there is no clear indication yet on how strong its impact could be, meteorologists told India Today.
Heatwave conditions across north India
IMD’s Naresh Kumar said heatwave conditions are expected to continue in parts of northwest India, central India and most areas of east India for the next six to seven days.
"We have issued an 'Orange Alert' for a period of 6 to 7 days covering Punjab, Haryana, the NCR-Delhi region, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. Furthermore, we have issued a 'Red Alert' for a duration of 3 days for East Uttar Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh, and certain parts of Vidarbha," he said.
He also said a western disturbance started affecting the region from Thursday. As a result, heatwave conditions are likely to ease in Jammu and Kashmir from today onwards, he added.
"To NCR-Delhi specifically, temperatures in the region are currently hovering above 45 degrees Celsius, and a similar scenario is expected to persist throughout almost the entire week... Therefore, we have also issued an 'Orange Alert' for the NCR-Delhi region."
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded its hottest May night in almost 14 years, as the minimum temperature reached 31.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, according to the weather office.
The previous higher minimum temperature was recorded on May 26, 2012, when it stood at 32.5 degrees Celsius.
With inputs from agencies
