New Delhi: Hours after Delhi's highest temperature touched 52.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday clarified that the mercury reading was not official yet and added that the senior IMD officials have been asked to verify the news report.
Issuing a statement after a weather office in Delhi reported Mungeshpur AWS (Automatic weather station) recorded the highest temperature at 52.3 degrees Celcius, Kiren Rijiju said, "It is not official yet. Temperature of 52.3 degrees Celcius in Delhi is very unlikely. Our senior officials in IMD have been asked to verify the news report. The official position will be stated soon."
Earlier today, Delhi's Mungeshpur logged a maximum of 52.9 degrees Celsius, the highest ever temperature recorded in the city.
The national capital and large parts of north India have been experiencing intense heat wave conditions over the past few days. On Tuesday, weather stations in Mungeshpur, Narela, and Najafgarh recorded temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius.
The IMD is currently examining the sensors and data from this station to verify its accuracy, saying that it may be an outlier due to sensor error or local factors. The maximum temperatures across Delhi-NCR varied from 45.2 degrees Celsius to 49.1 degrees Celsius in different parts of the city.
In the evening, a sudden change in weather brought drizzle to some parts of the city. However, this could increase humidity levels, exacerbating discomfort as heat wave conditions are expected to persist in the coming days, reported PTI.
The IMD reported that Delhi's relative humidity fluctuated between 43 percent and 30 percent throughout the day. Temperatures have been steadily rising in the final days of May.
For Thursday, the IMD predicts partly cloudy skies with heatwave conditions in some areas, along with the possibility of thunderstorms, dust storms, very light rain, and drizzles, accompanied by gusty winds at speeds of 25 to 35 kmph.