The chill is gone: Mercury in Delhi crosses 30°C mark
NEW DELHI: The mercury in the national capital continued to rise on Wednesday, with the maximum temperature hitting 30.4 degrees Celsius, seven above the season’s normal. Scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that temperatures will continue to show a rising trend from now, marking the end of the winter season in the national capital.
IMD recordings show that on Wednesday, the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory, which is considered the official reading for the city, was 10.2°C.
At the Palam weather station, the minimum temperature was 12.5°C, two degrees above normal, while the maximum temperature was 25.8°C.
On Tuesday, the minimum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung observatory was 7.8 degree, a notch below the season’s normal.
The maximum temperature of the day was 26.5 degree Celsius, three degrees above what is considered normal for the season.
Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’S regional weather forecasting centre, said the maximum temperature on Thursday and Friday is exactly likely to be around 29 degrees Celsius.
“We can say that the winters are over. After this there is no forecast of a cold day or a cold wave hitting Delhi and the NCR parts,” Srivastava said.
According to the IMD forecast, dense to very dense fog in isolated pockets is likely over Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi in the morning hours on Thursday and Friday.
Dense fog in isolated pockets over the same area during subsequent two days and over Uttar Pradesh has also been predicted.
The air quality also improved marginally on Wednesday. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recordings show that the overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was 291, in the ‘poor’ zone, which was an improvement from Tuesday’s 305, categorised as ‘very poor’ in the AQI scale.
An AQI in the range of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the forecast said the AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate again in the coming days.
“Surface winds are low, which is likely to reduce ventilation coefficient slightly and hence AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate. But it is predicted to remain within the very poor category for the next three days,” the Safar forecast read.
Weather experts said that above normal temperatures are likely to continue over all of northwest India.
“Delhi (on Wednesday) recorded 30.4°C maximum temperature, which is seven degrees above normal. After Delhi, such high temperatures were only recorded in parts of Rajasthan, where the maximum temp around 30°C or above. In the absence of any major western disturbance impacting the region in the next 10 days, above normal temperatures are likely to continue in northwest India. This could be an early onset of spring,” said Navdeep Dahiya, an independent weather expert.
In the next 10 days, above normal temperatures are likely to continue in northwest India. This could be spring’s early onset. NAVDEEP DAHIYA, weather expert