Temperature tops 49°C in parts of Delhi as heatwave soars

Hindustan Times

Published: May 16, 2022, 12:41 PM

Temperature tops 49°C in parts of Delhi as heatwave soars

The maximum temperature in parts of Delhi crossed 49 degrees Celsius (°C) on Sunday, a level never recorded before in the national capital, as a severe heatwave continued to affect several parts of northwest and central India, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The temperature was recorded at 49.2°C in northwest Delhi’s Mungeshpur and 49.1°C in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh. It was the first time any weather station in the national capital breached the 49°C mark. These two automatic weather stations became operational only this year, so no past data is available, but the previous high in Delhi was recorded at 48.4°C at the Palam station on May 26, 1998.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far at Safdarjung, the base weather station for Delhi, which recorded a maximum of 45.6°C, five degrees above normal and 1.4 degrees higher than Saturday’s maximum temperature. The last time Delhi experienced a higher maximum temperature in this month was on May 28, 2020, when it was 45.9 degrees at Safdarjung.

Mungeshpur was also the hottest location across the country on Sunday, followed by Najafgarh and Banda in Uttar Pradesh (49°C), IMD data showed.

“Both Najafgarh and Mungeshpur stations are new weather stations which were only made operational this year. This is the highest maximum ever recorded at these stations so far, but comparative data is unavailable for past years,” said IMD scientist RK Jenamani.

“While no rain is expected, gusty winds are expected and cloudy skies, too, which will provide a slight relief,” he added. “This relief is expected both on Monday and Tuesday, with mercury expected to start rising to 43-44 degrees once again from Wednesday onwards.”

Delhi currently has 11 weather stations, out of which five are manual – Safdarjung, Lodhi Road, Palam, Ayanagar and Ridge. At all five, readings are collected manually, with a weather department official using several instruments to note down readings at different times of the day. The remaining stations – Najafgarh, Mayur Vihar, Commonwealth Village Sports Complex, Mungeshpur, Jafarpur and Pitampura — are automatic, where data gets recorded through calibrated weather instruments and transmitted to computer servers.

All 11 weather stations recorded maximum temperatures in excess of 45°C, IMD data showed. After Mungeshpur (49.2°C) and Najafgarh (49.1°C), the station near Akshardham recorded a high of 48.4°C, followed by Jafarpur at 47.5°C. The lowest maximum recorded was 45.4°C at the Mayur Vihar station.

Over the last decade, the highest maximum for both Safdarjung and Palam was recorded on May 27, 2020, when Safdarjung saw a high of 46°C, while the mercury touched 47.6°C at Palam.

While the all-time record for Safdarjung is 47.2°C, recorded on May 29, 1944, it is 48.4°C for Palam, which was recorded on May 26, 1998.

IMD has issued a yellow alert for May 20, when heatwave conditions are expected to return after likely abating on Monday. IMD declares a yellow alert if an extreme weather event is expected, while it is upgraded to an orange alert if preventive action is required. Delhi had an orange alert for Saturday as well as Sunday, while Rajasthan was issued a red alert due to the heatwave.

A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40°C and 4.5°C above normal. It becomes severe if the temperature is in excess of 6.5°C above normal.

The intense and frequent spells of heatwaves this year have been attributed in part to scanty rainfall. Delhi recorded no rainfall in March and just 0.3mm in April. The normal rainfall for March is 15.9mm and 12.2mm for April.

In May, Delhi usually averages 19.7mm of rainfall, but so far, it has only recorded 1.4mm of rainfall, and that too on a single day, when it rained on May 6.

“We have seen western disturbances in March, April and May, but they have not been active. In the absence of an active western disturbance, there has not been sufficient rain, which generally regulates the temperature,” said Jenamani. “We have largely seen dry weather and westerly winds blowing from northwest India towards northern and central India.”

Delhi recorded a low of 25°C on Sunday. Forecast for Monday shows that the minimum is expected to rise to around 28°C owing to the incoming western disturbance, while the maximum is expected to drop to 41°C at Safdarjung and 42-43°C elsewhere.

Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change) at Skymet Weather Services, said that the region is likely to experience a brief respite for the next two days.

“There is expected to be some relief from tomorrow (Monday), which will last till Tuesday. There is a chance of some improved wind speeds and cloudy weather, but after that heatwave conditions will be back,” said Palawat.

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