Delhi: Mercury Dips Below 40 Degrees After 13 Days, Light Rain Likely From Tomorrow

The IMD has issued a yellow alert (watch and stay updated), warning of thundershowers or light rain over the next six days.

(Representational Image – File Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said the mercury dipped below the 40 degree mark in the national capital, PTI reported. The Safdarjung Observatory, as per the news agency, recorded a maximum temperature of 39.6 degrees Celsius as against 43.7 degrees Celsius on Monday. The minimum temperature in Delhi settled at 31.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.

This came as a cloud cover cocooned the national capital, causing the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory -- the city’s base station -- to drop below 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in June.

The IMD has issued a yellow alert (watch and stay updated), warning of thundershowers or light rain over the next six days.

The mercury is predicted to drop to 35 degrees Celsius by Sunday as consecutive western disturbances and lower level easterlies are predicted in the coming days that are likely to keep the heat at bay.

Delhi has not recorded any rainfall since June 1, when the monsoon season starts.

Generally, the national capital receives 13.8 mm of rainfall in the first 13 days of the month.

The IMD had earlier last year forecast that the monsoon would arrive in Delhi nearly two weeks before its usual date.

The monsoon, however, reached Delhi only on July 13, making it the most delayed in 19 years.

Delhi, as per the IMD data, has recorded a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius and above on 26 days so far this summer season, the highest number of such days since 2012 when the city recorded a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius or above on 30 days.

The number of such days, according to the IMD data, was 35 in 2010, the highest in the 1951-2022 period.

Delhi has witnessed six heatwave spells this summer, the deadliest being in mid-May when the maximum temperature soared to 49 degrees Celsius at some places.

Amid the absence of strong western disturbances, the latest heatwave spell began on June 2 courtesy an onslaught of hot and dry westerly winds.