Rain, strong winds hit Delhi-NCR, bring relief from heatwave

The western disturbance brought respite from heatwave conditions over northwest India, which has witnessed a dry and unusually hot start to the summer this year. The month of March saw no rainfall at all in Delhi, while April recorded a deficit of around 98%. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said recently that the reason for a deficit in rainfall over northwest and central India in March and April was that the western disturbances were dry and feeble, and moved across the northern parts of the Himalayas, failing to bring any significant rainfall to northwest India. The absence of rainfall kept temperatures high, and Delhi witnessed a total of three heatwave spells in March and April.

The rainfall came after the city recorded a heatwave spell last week, and had been witnessing a prolonged dry spell.

The normal rainfall at the Safdarjung weather observatory in March is 15.9 mm, while that for April is 12.2 mm. The rainfall recorded in April at Safdarjung was just 0.3 mm.

Between 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm, the Safdarjung observatory recorded 1.4 mm of rain, while the observatory at Palam recorded 0.8 mm. The weather station at Aya Nagar recorded 2.4 mm of rain between 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm.

Noida witnessed dust storm and light rain on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

With the current western disturbance bringing strong winds and cloudy skies, the maximum temperature has fallen. On Wednesday, the maximum temperature at Safdarjung was below 40 degrees, standing at 39.1 degrees Celsius. It was even lower, at 38.4 degrees, on Tuesday. The minimum temperature remained high at 28.8 degrees, four degrees above the normal, early on Wednesday. With dry conditions abating, relative humidity also increased to 64% as of 8.30 am on Wednesday.

However, relief from heatwave conditions is likely to be short-lived. A fresh spell of heatwave conditions is likely to set in over central India from May 5 onwards and over northwest India from May 6 onwards. The maximum temperature over northwest India is not likely to change significantly over the next two days, but could rise by three to four degrees thereafter, according to an IMD forecast issued Wednesday.

Heatwave conditions are likely over Delhi-NCR from May 8 onwards, according to IMD scientists. The IMD forecast for Safdarjung indicates that heatwave conditions are likely to return on May 10, when the maximum temperature could increase to 44 degrees Celsius.