NEW DELHI: Even as heat wave conditions continued to occur in parts of the national capital on Thursday, gusty winds, drizzle and thunderstorm in parts of the city on Thursday late evening brought some respite from the scorching conditions.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that the day was hot but a western disturbance has been affecting the Western Himalayan Region and the adjoining plains in northwest India from April 12-13, which induced thunder activity in the northern plains, which hit Delhi-NCR.
“Thunderstorm with light showers and gusty winds with a speed of 30-40 km per hour occurred over adjoining areas including north Delhi, parts of northwest, west and southwest Delhi as well as neighbouring Haryana including Karnal, Panipat, Jhajjar, Rewari and Nuh. Thunder activity was also seen in Uttar Pradesh towns including Muzaffarnagar, Greater Noida, Nazibabad and Bijnaur,” said R K Jenamani, senior IMD scientist.
The relief is likely to be short-lived and may stay only till around Friday after which hot and dry winds are again likely to blow over the Northwest region, he said. Meanwhile, departures were delayed for up to 10 minutes at the Delhi airport due to the thunderstorms, a official said.
The weather office also predicted that heatwave conditions are unlikely in the city for the next three days.
However, the IMD in its weather forecast on Wednesday said that heat wave is expected to return to the national capital from April 16 onwards and issued a ‘yellow’ alert for April 18-19.
On Thursday, Safdarjung, the base station for Delhi, recorded a maximum of 39.4 degrees C, three notches above normal. Delhi Ridge, Mungeshpur, Yamuna Sports Complex, Pitampura and Najafgarh were the hottest spots in the city reporting temperatures above 41 degrees C. The city has recorded six heatwave days so far in April this year, showed IMD data.