No respite for Delhi yet, max temp settles at 40.5 deg Celsius

New Delhi: Even though large parts of northwest India got some relief from the searing heatwave, the Capital on Sunday continued to reel under heatwave conditions, with the maximum temperature settling at 40.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average, according to the Indian Meteorological Department. The minimum temperature in the national capital settled at 25.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average, the IMD said. Relative humidity oscillated between 62 per cent to 36 per cent.

The weatherman has forecast partly cloudy skies in Delhi for Monday with the possibility of a dust storm and thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds with a speed of 40-50 kmph.

But heatwave conditions are expected to continue over Delhi and adjacent regions for the next three days. Dust storms or thunderstorms are expected at isolated places over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi between May 2 and May 4, an IMD bulletin said.

And as intense heat set in early this year, leading to one of the hottest Aprils ever recorded in the Capital, the average air quality index (AQI) throughout April this year was 256, the worst for the month since 2016, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

The city saw 29 "poor" air quality days in April, the highest in the month since the CPCB started maintaining AQI data in 2015. This was also the first time that Delhi did not record a single day with "moderate" or better air quality in April, the data showed.

"Generally, during the second half of April, wind direction shifts from south and southeast to west and northwest and picks up speed with intermittent rains.

"This time, the wind speed was higher the entire month and there was no rainfall. This caused lifting of dry local dust and particulate matter resulting in higher AQI throughout the month," former CPCB Air Lab chief Dr Dipankar Saha said.

According to the IMD, Delhi recorded its second-hottest April in 72 years with a monthly average maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius. The city's normal monthly average temperature in April is 36.30 degrees Celsius.

The national capital experienced three prolonged heatwaves this month in the absence of periodic light rainfall and thundershowers which typify this time of the year due to the lack of active western disturbances.