Mercury above 40-degree mark for 3rd day in Delhi, may hit 42°C on Tuesday

School students out on a hot summer’s day at Sarita Vihar on Monday.

The temperature dropped marginally across the city on Monday, with Safdarjung – the base station for Delhi’s weather, recording a maximum temperature of 40.7°C — a degree below normal for this time of the year. It was 41.1°C on Sunday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the temperature will rise once again on Tuesday, and is expecting it to touch 42°C. There is also a 50 percent chance of a dust storm with gusty winds upto 45 km/hr being recorded late on Tuesday night, it said.

Delhi’s maximum temperature on Sunday at 41.1°C was the highest maximum so far this year at Safdarjung. The IMD says the maximum should now hover between 41 and 42°C for the remainder of the week.

Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD said Delhi recorded strong surface winds during the day on Monday, which, despite clear skies, did not allow the mercury to climb too much. “This is why we saw a marginal drop in comparison to Sunday. On Tuesday, clear skies will persist and this will lead to a rise in maximum temperature by 1-2°C at most places. It can touch 42°C at Safdarjung and even higher in other parts of the city,” he said.

Srivastava added that in order for a station to have a heatwave in the plains, the maximum needed to be above 40°C, while also being 4.5°C above normal. “In order to satisfy the heatwave criteria, a station must cross 45°C,” he added. Delhi is yet to record a heatwave so far this year, despite other parts of the country reeling under such conditions.

The highest maximum recorded at any weather station so far this year is 44.0°C, which was logged at the Sports Complex (Akshardham) weather station on Sunday. Interestingly, the maximum temperature for the Sports Complex station was unavailable on Monday. On Monday, the highest maximum in the city was 42.6°C at Najafgarh.

This dry, windy weather has also translated into dust becoming a prominent pollutant in Delhi, leading to a spike in PM 10 concentration. Delhi’s air quality was ‘poor’ for a fourth consecutive day. The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 247 (poor) at 4 pm on Monday. It was 291 (poor) at the same time on Sunday.

Air quality may worsen on Tuesday, with the IMD forecasting a 50% chance of a dust storm also occurring on Tuesday night. Despite this, there were no indications from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR to hold an emergency meeting to invoke the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Stage-1 of GRAP was lifted on February 27 by CAQM.

“The day will be warm and dry. We can expect a dust storm with gusty winds of up to 45 km/hr at night-time,” Srivastava added.

Last May, the highest maximum temperature recorded during the month was 43.7°C, which was on May 23. In 2022, it was 45.6°C on May 16. In 2021, it was 41.6 (May 5) and in 2020, it touched 46.0°C on May 27.

In terms of minimum temperature, Delhi recorded a low of 24.4°C, which was a degree below normal. It was 22.7°C on Sunday. Forecasts show the minimum is likely to be around 25°C on Tuesday and could cross 26°C by Saturday.

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