Thunderstorm may ease the heat by this weekend
NEW DELHI: Heatwave conditions returned on Thursday to northwest India, including the national capital where parts of the city recorded a maximum temperature over 46°C, with conditions expected to worsen on Friday before a sudden turn in the weather is expected over the weekend.
The forecasts suggest there will be no let-up in instances of weather extremes – last weekend, the city recorded its hottestever temperature of 49°C – even as readings and satellite images from south of the country show the monsoon rains may be marching faster than previously predicted.
“Heat wave would occur over northwest and Madhya Pradesh till tomorrow only and abate thereafter due to approaching western disturbance, and likely southwesterly winds from Arabian sea over northwest India,” said a senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) official, asking not to be named.
Another official said the western disturbance, a rain-bearing system that will cause the thunderstorms, could be “very strong”. “There will be thunderstorm and dust storm over several parts of NW India. The heat wave spell will only be till May 21,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist at the IMD.
A second Met department official said the thunderstorms spells will likely stretch well into next week. “From Saturday until Tuesday, the maximum is expected to be 40 degrees or lower as this rain is likely to provide a cooling effect,” the official said. But before the relief, Friday is likely to be a particularly hot day. Forecasts showed the temperature could hover between 44 and 47°C, while the minimum will be around 29 degrees.
Mungeshpur, along the Capital’s border with Haryana, was the hottest place in Delhi on Thursday along with Najafgarh at 46.3°C. Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station for weather, recorded a maximum of 43.6°C– three degrees above normal and also three degrees higher than Wednesday’s maximum. On Sunday, Mungeshpur, recorded 49.2°C, becoming the hottest city countrywide that day, according to data from the national weather office. A string of extreme heatwave events have hit northwest India and adjoining Pakistan since last month, leading to a drop in crop output