NEW DELHI: After a brief respite from extremely high day temperatures, heatwave conditions are set to return to the national capital from April 16. A ‘yellow’ alert has been issued for April 18-19, said India
Meteorological Department (IMD) officials. R K Jenamani, senior IMD scientist on Wednesday said that over the past 24 hours, maximum temperatures have fallen by about 2-3 degrees C over Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan.
“As a result of which, heatwave abated from these areas. The drop in maximum temperatures by about two degrees C is further likely over parts of northwest India over next 24 hours, but only to hit the region back by 2-4 degrees C thereafter across the region,” said Jenamani.
Heatwave conditions are likely to return to the national capital and surrounding region including Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh and East Rajasthan from April 16-17 and may intensity around April 18-19. On Wednesday, the maximum temperature at Safdarjung, base station for Delhi was 40.6 degrees C, five notches above normal. Delhi Ridge and east Delhi’s Yamuna Sports Complex were the hottest spots in Delhi recording 41.5 degrees C and 41.4 degrees C, respectively. In the NCR, Gurgaon had the highest maximum of 42.2 degrees C.
Till Monday, the city recorded five consecutive days of severe heatwave spells breaking a record of five years with temperatures ranging from 42-44 degrees C. According to IMD scientists, a heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees C and 4.5 notches above normal. A severe heatwave is when the temperature is above 40 degrees C and 6.5 notches above normal. IMD scientists further said that since 2010, the maximum temperature in April has breached even 45 degrees C mark but not within the first 10 days of the month.