For Delhiites braving the blistering heat for the last five days, there is a little respite in store. Even as Met officials have predicted the mercury to remain at its peak (45degrees Celsius) on May 23 and 24, they have predicted the temperature to plummet by nearly two degrees from May 26 onwards. Officials said the heat wave conditions in the city would also begin to abate from the next week. They said the ongoing dry spell has been one of the longest dry spells in the last 10 years.
“The occurrence of rain and thundershowers over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and North Punjab will break the anticyclone over the region. This will moderate the intensity of the hot air which will thereby reduce the maximum temperature by about 2 degrees from May 26 onwards,” said a senior official of the Indian Metrological department.
They said it was primarily the absence of western disturbance activity, strong hot northwesterly winds and subsidence of air that have caused a prolonged heat wave spell. “However, the situation will change and even though the maximum temperature may remain above normal, heatwave is unlikely to persist in the coming week,” he said.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Wednesday remained a sweltering 44.9 degrees Celsius; marginally below 45.1 degrees on Tuesday. The minimum temperature remained at 30.3 degrees Celsius, four notches above the normal temperature. However, the skies largely remained clear. The maximum humidity also dipped by nearly 20 per cent. The humidity recorded on Tuesday was 60 per cent on Wednesday it remained at 40 per cent. “There is a decline in percentage of humidity recorded from Tuesday. This is because of downpour in the western regions which has had a direct impact on our region,” officials added.