Mercury rising in Gurgaon, blame it on the prolonged dry spell

GURGAON: Mercury is on the rise in the city with the maximum temperature likely to stay 3-6 degrees Celsius above normal over the next three days, IMD said on Saturday. February has remained unusually warm this year, with the daytime temperature touching a high of 32.5 degrees on February 20. The city's all-time highest maximum in the month was 33.5 degrees Celsius on February 17, 1993, as per IMD data.
The department has attributed the early rise in temperature to a prolonged dry spell caused by the lack of a strong western disturbance in the region. The city last witnessed winter rain on January 30 (22mm rain).
Despite a surplus of 103% by January end, its cumulative rainfall for this winter is at a 7% deficit with 21.9mm rainfall between January 1 and February 25, compared to the normal of 23.6mm. This deficit is unlikely to improve as IMD has ruled out any possibility of rain in the next three days. "There has been a prolonged dry spell because the western disturbance, which is mainly responsible for winter rain, isn't strong enough to cause any significant weather activity over the plains," said Manmohan Singh, director, IMD (Chandigarh).
On Saturday, the daytime temperature rose slightly to 30 degrees Celsius against 29.2 degrees Celsius the previous day. The minimum was 11.3 degrees Celsius.
For Sunday, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 30 and 12 degrees Celsius, respectively. The city's air quality index (AQI) deteriorated to 'poor' on Saturday at 228, compared to 146 (moderate) the day before.
Meanwhile in Delhi, the maximum temperature was 30.8 degrees Celsius and the minimum 10.4 degrees.
The AQI was 'poor' at 225 against 171 a day earlier.