National capital Delhi recorded its third-hottest February day since 1969 on Monday as the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory soared to 33.6 degrees Celsius. The temperature was nine notches above normal and the automatic weather station at Pitampura recorded a maximum temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius, a departure of 10 degrees from normal. The Najafgarh and Ridge stations recorded maximum temperatures of 34.6 and 34.2 degrees Celsius respectively, 9 to 10 notches above normal.
Delhi had recorded its all-time high temperature of 34.1 degrees Celsius on February 26, 2006, and a maximum temperature of 33.9 degrees Celsius on February 17, 1993. The lack of strong western disturbances was cited as the primary reason for the early heat in Delhi and other parts of northwest India, according to Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the India Meteorological Department's regional forecasting centre. Srivastava added that a few feeble western disturbances have led to below-normal precipitation in the hills.
The mercury is predicted to soar to 40 degrees Celsius and above in one or two meteorological subdivisions of northwest India in the first half of March. The Met office on Sunday had issued an isolated heatwave warning for Kutch and Konkan, which was later withdrawn on Monday due to the sea breeze leading to a drop in temperatures. Maximum temperatures are very likely to be in the range of 36 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius over many parts of Gujarat during the next 24 hours, according to the IMD.
In March last year, which was the warmest recorded in the country since 1901, heat caused a decline of 2.5% in wheat yields. The weather department attributed the unusual heat to the lack of rainfall due to the absence of active western disturbances over north India and any major system over south India. The country as a whole had logged just 8.9 mm rainfall, which was 71% lower than its long period average of 30.4 mm.