Temp up to 41.6°C, rain relief by Friday

NEW DELHI: The mercury level touched 41.6 degrees Celsius in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, making it the hottest day of the season so far.

At Palam the day temperature was 43.1 degrees Celsius. Officials of the regional weather forecasting centre in New Delhi have stated that there won’t be any major change in the mercury levels on Thursday with the maximum temperature likely to touch 42 degrees Celsius. The officials, however, have not declared a heat wave alert yet.

On Friday, officials said, a thunderstorm and some rain could hit the city, bringing down the temperature by at least five degrees.

“Strong northwesterly winds over the past few days have helped to keep the day temperature from rising drastically. But now that these winds have lost speed, the maximum temperature has shot up. On Wednesday the day temperature shot up to 41.6 degree, which was three degrees above normal,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, senior scientist with the regional weather forecasting centre.

A heat wave is declared when the maximum temperature crosses the 40 degrees Celsius mark in at least three adjoining weather monitoring stations and the temperature is at least five degrees above the normal.

The last time the day temperature had touched the 40 degrees Celsius mark was on April 16. On that day, the Safdarjung observatory, which is considered a representative of the city’s weather, had recorded a maximum temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature at Palam was recorded at 41.6 degrees Celsius.

Officials, however, said that a western disturbance is approaching and under its influence a cyclonic circulation is expected to develop over western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

“Together, these two weather systems (western disturbance and cyclonic circulation) would trigger some rain on Friday. Even though there could be a dust storm and thunderstorm on Thursday night, rainfall is expected the following day,” said Srivastava.