Cooler evening as dusty winds push temp down
NEW DELHI: The impact of a western disturbance brought isolated drizzle and dusty winds of speeds up to 40kmph on Thursday evening, even as windy conditions brought mercury below the 40-degree mark during the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the impact of the evening drizzle to remain in place on Friday as well, with the maximum expected to remain around 39°C, before touching the 40-degree mark on Saturday.
Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station for weather, recorded a maximum of 39.4°C on Thursday, three degrees above normal and 1.2 degrees lower than the 40.6°C recorded the previous day.
“While chances of rainfall over Delhi were less, passing thunderstorm and dust storm activity from Haryana was seen in the Capital at around 7.30 pm, with some parts receiving scattered drizzle. Strong winds were also seen in Delhi, leading to a possible 0.5 degrees drop in temperature on Friday,” said IMD scientist RK Jenamani.
The IMD has a ‘green alert’ in place for the next three days, indicating no significant weather phenomenon is expected over Delhi. However, a ‘yellow alert’ -- issued to warn people about a particular weather event -- is in place from April 18 onwards, indicating possible heatwave conditions from then.
“The maximum will reach close to 42 degrees or higher from April 18 onwards and while the normal in the second half of April is higher, parts of Delhi could still see heatwave conditions at the time,” said Jenamani.
On Thursday, Yamuna Sports Complex in east Delhi was the warmest location in the city, recording a temperature of 41.8°C, followed by Ridge station which saw a high of 41.6°C.delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 26.2°C – five degrees above normal and five degrees higher the previous day’s 21.7°C.
Delhi crossed the 40°C mark for the first time this year last Thursday. It rose to 41.6°C on Friday and 42.4°C on Saturday, before falling marginally to 41.8°C on Sunday.
On Monday, it was at its highest so far this year, at 42.6°C -- the highest ever so far this year. This streak was snapped on Tuesday, when the day got cooler by nearly three degrees, with the mercury dropping to 39.5°C.
The normal mark for April 6-10 is 34.7°C, while it is 36.1°C between April 11 and 15.