Offering some respite from the recent spell of heatwave, the maximum temperature in Delhi is set to fall below 40 degrees Celsius on Monday and settle at around 39 degrees, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast indicates. With a western disturbance affecting parts of northwest India, dust storms or thunderstorms are on the forecast for the day in the national capital. Strong dust-raising surface winds of around 30 to 40 kmph are likely over northwest India on Monday. However, the minimum temperature, which is recorded at night, settled at around 27.4 degrees Celsius early on Monday, three degrees above the normal, and higher than the 25.8 degrees recorded the previous day. Warm nights are likely over the next few days with the minimum temperature likely to be around 27 degrees till May 4. Relative humidity has also been on the rise, recording 61% at 8.30 am on Monday. The maximum temperature over most parts of northwest India could fall by around three to four degrees Celsius in the next 24 hours, according to an IMD bulletin issued Monday morning. Light rainfall is on the forecast for Delhi on May 5. The maximum temperature in Delhi is set to remain below 40 degrees Celsius till May 5, and then rise to around 41 degrees Celsius by May 7. The absence of active western disturbances with sufficient moisture had kept Delhi’s weather dry and rainless in March and for most of April. The maximum temperatures then remained relentlessly high, beginning with a heatwave spell in March. Over the past week, Delhi recorded its third heatwave spell this summer, from April 28 to 30. On Sunday, the maximum temperature in Delhi fell to around 40.5 degrees Celsius at the Safdarjung weather observatory, after having stood at a consistent 43.5 degrees during the heatwave spell. The maximum temperature at other weather stations in the city also fell on Sunday. The maximum temperature at the CWG Sports Complex in East Delhi, which recorded a high of 47.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday, fell to around 40.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday. Similarly, the maximum temperature at the weather observatory in Gurgaon, which recorded 46.2 degrees on Saturday, fell to 41.8 degrees on Sunday. Heatwave conditions remain on the forecast for western Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Vidarbha on Monday. With strong winds likely to raise dust in the NCR, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the air quality in Delhi on Monday could be in the ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ category, with PM10 and dust being the main pollutants. On Sunday, the AQI was 256, in the ‘poor’ category.
