The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert, warning of a fresh heatwave spell in Delhi which may see temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius by Wednesday.
Though there won’t be a steep rise in temperatures in most parts of Delhi as easterly winds are prevailing in the region under the impact of Cyclone Asani over the Bay of Bengal, the increase in humidity levels can cause discomfort, said Mahesh Palawat, Vice President (Meteorology and Climate Change), Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.
“Without the easterly winds, temperatures would have leaped to 46-47 degrees Celsius,” he said.
On Monday, the Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base station, recorded a maximum temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal for this time of the year. The minimum temperature settled at 27.6 degrees Celsius.
Back-to-back patchy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds had provided some respite from the intense heat last week.
Delhi had witnessed a hot and dry March, gauging nil rainfall against the normal of 15.9 mm. It got 0.3 mm of rainfall in April against a monthly average of 12.2 mm.
A heatwave at the month-end had sent the mercury soaring to 46 and 47 degrees Celsius in several parts of Delhi.
