New Delhi: Delhi reeled under sweltering heat as the maximum temperature soared to 44 degrees Celsius the season’s highest on Friday.
Head of the Indian Meteorological Department’s regional weather forecasting Centre in Delhi, Kuldeep Srivastava, said this is the highest temperature of the season so far. Delhities need to brace themselves for the warmer days ahead as the MeT office has predicted similar conditions for Saturday.
The heatwave conditions are expected at isolated places, he added. However, a duststorm and cloudy sky under the influence of a fresh western disturbance may provide some relief from Saturday evening onwards.
The Safdardunj observatory Delhi’s primary weather station observed a maximum temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius, which is three notches above the normal. Moreover, Najafgarh recorded the highest temperature in the national capital at 44.1 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Pusa, Jafarpur and Pitampura recorded 43, 43.1 and 43.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The sky remained clear throughout the day with the minimum temperature settling six notches below normal at 19.3 deg Celsius. The humidity oscillated between 77 per cent and 18 per cent.
The weather office has predicted a partly cloudy clear sky for Saturday with a possibility of a dust storm, towards evening and night. “The maximum and minimum temperature would be around 43 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively,” it said.
Delhi’s 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the ‘poor’ category with a reading of 227 An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
The city experienced a long spell of cloudy weather and sporadic rainfall from April 21 to May 7, which is rare during this time of the year. May has been historically the hottest month in Delhi, with a mean maximum temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius.