Mercury plummets to 32.7°C on Delhi’s coolest day since May 24
NEW DELHI: Widespread rain over northwest India from Friday cooled temperatures in Delhi and other cities in the region that were sweltering under a heatwave. The respite is likely to continue at least till Monday, the weather office predicted, with further thunderstorms on the horizon.
Maximum temperature at Delhi’s Safdarjung, the base weather station, on Saturday was 32.7 degrees Celsius (°C) — seven degrees below normal. The minimum temperature fell to 24.4°C, three below normal.
Rainfall and thunderstorm activity is likely to continue in Delhi and other northwestern states till June 20, after which winds will switch back to northwesterly and temperatures will start rising again, Met officials said. However, it was unlikely that heatwaves will return after June 20, they said.
It is the first time this June that temperatures have dropped so much, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data showed.
Temperatures have consistently remained above 40°C this month in the national capital, barring June 14, when it was slightly lower at 39.6°C.
Before this, the maximum temperature fell to 31.5°C on May 24, 8.4 degrees below normal, after some rain. Saturday’s temperature was the lowest since June 2017, when on four occasions it dropped below 32.7°C.
In 2017, on June 17, 20 and 21, the maximum temperature was recorded as 32°C, while on June 29, the daytime temperature fell to 31°C.
The drop in Delhi’s temperature on Saturday was primarily because of the overnight thunder and rain the city received on Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. However, a drop of seven degrees from normal was also because, along with Delhi, its neighbouring cities also saw heavy showers in the past 24 hours, adding to the relief.
“If the rain was only limited to Delhi and even the NCR region, the drop in temperature would not have been this significant,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather Services, a private forecaster. “The fall was this steep mainly because large parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also received widespread and heavy rain.”
Between Friday and Saturday, Delhi’s Safdarjung observatory recorded 13mm rainfall, while the weather station at Lodi Road received 15.8mm. Palam received 9.5mm, Ridge 8.8mm and Aya Nagar 8.4mm rain, according to the IMD.
On Saturday, the maximum temperature recorded in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut was 31.4°C, in Ambala it was 27.8°C, in Chandigarh 27.9°C and Ludhiana 28.7°C.
DELHI IS LIKELY TO GET SOME RAIN TILL JUNE 20, THE WEATHER OFFICE HAS PREDICTED