Delhi records third highest February temperature in 55 years, air quality remains 'very poor'
2 min read . Updated: 20 Feb 2023, 09:26 PM IST
Premium- The people of the national capital woke up to a humid morning with relative humidity recorded at 91% around 8:30 AM on Monday
The temperature in the national capital continues to rise, with Safdarjung Airport in Delhi recording 33.6 degrees Celsius on Monday, which is the third highest temperature in the month of February in the last 55 years. This comes a day after the city recorded the highest temperature in February in two years on Sunday, which was 31.5 degrees Celsius.
Delhi's highest recorded temperature in the month was in 2006 when the mercury touched 34.1 degrees Celsius.
The people of the national capital woke up to a humid morning with relative humidity recorded at 91% around 8:30 AM on Monday. The air quality of Delhi continues to remain in the ‘very poor’ category with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 343.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday withdrew the heatwave warnings for the Kutch and Konkan regions after the sea breeze led to a drop in temperatures in the areas.
"These regions have been seeing clear skies due to the lack of strong western disturbances. The feeble WDs impacted only the western Himalayan region, mainly Jammu and Kashmir. Temperatures in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, too, are high due to below-normal precipitation," said Naresh Kumar, a senior scientist at the IMD.
"We have withdrawn the heat wave warning for these regions with the temperatures showing a decreasing tendency due to sea breeze. Maximum temperatures are predicted to drop by two to three degrees Celsius in the next two-three days," he said.
"Maximum temperatures are very likely to be in the range of 36 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius over many parts of Gujarat during the next 24 hours," the IMD said in a statement issued at 12:45 pm on Monday.
The government on Monday formed a committee to monitor the impact of high temperatures on the wheat crop. This comes after National Crop Forecast Centre (NCFC) forecasted that maximum temperatures in all wheat-producing states (except Madhya Pradesh) were higher-than-average for the last seven years during the first week of February.
With inputs from agencies