Mercury may touch 44 degrees Celsius later this week

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the western disturbance — a phenomenon that causes rains and thunder activities in the region—withdrawing, as of Sunday night, temperatures are all set to witness a sharp rise.

With the withdrawal of back-to-back western disturbances, weather analysts expect the mercury to rise by three to four degrees in the next three days bringing heatwave like conditions to the national capital region.

The mercury levels are expected to rise from Tuesday, and the maximum temperatures may reach 43 to 44 degrees Celsius between May 21 and 23. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT file photo. Representative image)

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the western disturbance — a phenomenon that causes rains and thunder activities in the region—withdrawing, as of Sunday night, temperatures are all set to witness a sharp rise. The mercury levels are expected to rise from Tuesday, and the maximum temperatures may reach 43 to 44 degrees Celsius between May 21 and 23.

“Until Sunday, the average temperature for the region has been around 40 degrees in the last few days. While there was a possibility of light rains in some parts of Delhi on Sunday, the adjoining region of western Uttar Pradesh, which includes Noida and Ghaziabad, was almost dry. From Monday, the sky will be clear giving way to vertical sun rays that cause more heating,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

He said while no heatwaves have been forecasted yet, rise in mercury levels is on the cards.

“For heatwaves to happen, the maximum temperature must be above 44.3 degrees Celsius. From the current trend we can establish that the maximum temperature could go up to 43 to 44 degrees Celsius this week,” said Srivastava.

On Sunday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 40.5 degrees Celsius and the minimum was at 23.6 degrees Celsius, same as a day before.

On Monday, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 41 and 23.6 degrees Celsius respectively.

“There are possibilities of very light rain in the region on Wednesday, but that would not have much effect on the maximum temperature. The sharp rise in temperature in the region would lead to heatwaves-like conditions,” said Mahesh Palawat, director, private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

Palawat also pointed out that while heatwaves usually hit the region by April and episodes of intense heatwaves are witnessed around mid-May, the frequent western disturbances this year saved the region from the heatwaves until now.