Crows sit on pole lights at Rajpath, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist) The maximum temperature in Delhi dipped to 35.2 degrees Celsius on Thursday, three degrees below the normal, due to a western disturbance affecting northwest India.
On Friday, the maximum temperature is likely to settle at 38 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy skies are on the forecast. The minimum temperature recorded early on Friday was 22.8 degrees Celsius, which is around the normal temperature for this time of the year.
The fall in maximum temperature brought relief from the recent heatwave conditions that the city has been witnessing with temperatures persistently remaining above 40 degrees Celsius over the week. On Thursday, the city saw cloudy skies, strong winds and very light rainfall. Between 11.30 pm and 2.30 am, the Safdarjung weather observatory recorded 0.3 mm of rainfall, while the station at Palam recorded 0.2 mm. The weather stations at the Ridge and Lodhi Road registered traces of rainfall on Thursday.
Other weather stations in Delhi-NCR also recorded a dip in maximum temperatures on Thursday. It stood at 35.9 degrees in Gurgaon, while Najafgarh recorded 37.2 degrees and Pitampura 36.6 degrees.
The dip in maximum temperature is set to be short-lived. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast indicates that a rise in maximum temperature by two to four degrees is likely over most parts of northwest India during the next three days. Consequently, the maximum temperature in Delhi is likely to hit 40 degrees again on April 25, and rise further to 43 degrees Celsius on April 28, going by the forecast. The minimum temperature over the next six days is likely to range from 23 to 25 degrees Celsius.
The AQI on Thursday was 296, in the ‘poor’ category. Dust raising strong winds are likely over the NCR, Rajasthan and Gujarat on April 23 and 24, according to a forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System on Thursday. PM10 and dust are the predominant pollutants, going by the forecast.
PM10 levels remained high at several monitoring stations on Thursday. At Anand Vihar, the PM10 concentration at 10 am on Thursday was 1,110 µg/m3, more than 10 times the 24-hour standard of 100 µg/m3. At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium monitoring station, the PM10 concentration hit a high of 1,806 µg/m3 at around 1 am. At around 1.30 am, the IMD had issued a forecast for strong winds for Delhi-NCR.
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