Heatwave's here: Mercury goes up to 43.8°C, season's highest so far

GURGAON: After an unusually rainy March and April, the city entered its first spell of heatwave this year as temperatures rose to the season's highest of 43.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
Mercury went up over two notches from 41.8 degrees Celsius recorded on Saturday. The minimum temperature also rose 1.8 degrees Celsius from the day before to settle at 25.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, data by the India Meteorological Department showed.
Before this, the highest maximum temperature this year was recorded on May 12, when it touched 42.5 degrees Celsius.
Meteorologists said heatwave conditions may relent May 24 onwards, when showers in Haryana and NCR may pull back temperatures to around 35 degrees Celsius.
"On May 12, some Haryana districts witnessed a heat wave. But this is the first heatwave spell for Gurgaon this season. Maximum temperature is likely to be around 43 degrees Celsius for the next two days, but a fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from May 23, bringing in rains from May 24 to May 27. As a result, the maximum temperature is likely to drop to 35 degrees Celsius," said Manmohan Singh, director of IMD Chandigarh.
IMD on Sunday issued yellow alerts (to look out) for heatwave in south and north Haryana.
The normal temperature for this time of the year is 39 degrees Celsius.
Last year, temperatures touched the season's high of 45.9 degrees Celsius on April 30. In 2021, the highest maximum temperature of the year was 44.3 degrees Celsius on April 29.
So far, 2023 has relatively seen a milder summer than the previous years. The region saw unexpected showers in the preceding months, which kept temperatures lower than usual. In March, there was surplus rainfall over five times more than the normal for Gurgaon, and in April, it was 54% higher than the average for the month.
On Sunday, the city's 24-hour average air quality index was 183, in the moderate category. "Predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from Northwest directions in Delhi-NCR, with wind speeds up to 10-15kmph, mainly clear sky and thus the air quality is likely be in 'moderate' category for the next five days," according to a forecast by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
Meanwhile, the met department has issued a yellow alert for heatwave in Delhi for Monday. On Sunday, apart from the station where temperatures touched 45 degrees C or more, Ridge reported 44.5 degrees C, Pusa 44.8, Ayanagar 44, Jafarpur 44.6 and Palam 43.8.
Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, said, "Northwesterly winds from Punjab and Haryana, which are recording high temperatures, are bringing warm air to Delhi. There has been no cloudiness and no rainfall activity has been recently recorded in the plains or hills leading to a rise in temperature."
The minimum temperature on Sunday was recorded at 24 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal. The relative humidity oscillated from 25% and 74%. The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 43 degrees Celsius on Monday and Tuesday. Strong surface winds are predicted during the day.