Delhiites sweated it out on Saturday with the mercury touching the season’s highest of 42 degrees Celsius and hot winds blowing through the day.
This was the second time this summer that the day temperature crossed 40 degrees, the previous one being on April 16 when it touched 40.2 degrees. Last year, the mercury crossed 40 degrees Celsius on May 8.
Saturday’s maximum was three degrees above normal and a sharp rise from Friday’s 38.3 degrees which was one degree below normal for this time of the year.
The city has been witnessing day temperatures at around 38 degrees Celsius for the past week.
“It was hotter than usual. The previous days were tolerable compared to Saturday. The hot winds made life miserable,” said Nishant Arora, a shopper at Janpath market.
Saturday’s minimum was, however, five degrees below normal at 19.8 degrees as against Friday’s 20.3 degrees.
Humidity levels were recorded between 18 and 73 per cent.
The weatherman has forecast mainly clear skies on Sunday and the mercury is likely to oscillate between 21 and 41 degrees Celsius.
Last year in May, the mercury had touched 45 degrees Celsius on the last day of the month. The record for the month of May is 47.2 degrees Celsius recorded on the 29th day of the month in 1944.
Increase in temperature
The weather office had forecast that the city will witness a dry spell and significant increase in maximum temperature for a week till May 6.
“Due to frequent passage of western disturbances close to Delhi-NCR, the day temperatures have been near normal so far this season. This scenario has changed,” a senior Meteorological official said.
“Despite the dry spell and increase in maximum temperature, the summer condition over Delhi will not be very severe as the maximum temperature during the first week of May will be only 1-2 degrees above normal,” he said.
The effect of the dry spell and hot north-westerly winds will be moderated by occasional cloudy condition during the day time in the coming week, resulting in maximum temperatures just above normal, he said. – PTI
