The national Capital witnessed its hottest day of the season at 41.6 degrees Celsius, seven notches above the season's average on Friday, with the temperature expected to rise further in the next couple of days.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stations at Mungeshpur, Najafgarh, Pitampura and Sports Complex recorded maximum temperatures of 43 degrees Celsius, 43.3 degrees Celsius, 43.4 degrees Celsius and 43.9 degrees Celsius, respectively. The IMD has issued an orange alert, warning of a severe heatwave in the city on Saturday too. IMD data showed that barring two, all automatic weather stations in the city recorded maximum temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius on Friday. The maximum temperature at most places in Delhi was recorded at least seven degrees above normal.
The heatwave is likely to intensify further, and the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory may touch the 42 degree Celsius mark on Saturday, the IMD said. However, cloudy conditions may bring some relief from the stifling heat from Tuesday.
The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings -- green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).The minimum temperature in the morning was recorded at 19.7 degrees Celsius, which is normal during this season. The heatwave in the Capital is likely to intensify in the coming week as the maximum temperature can touch 42-44 degrees Celsius.In its forecast on Friday, the IMD predicted that the north eastern part of India will very likely receive rainfall by April 12.
That said, the weather department also mentioned that, Northwestern India including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Bihar and Jharkhand will be under the spell of a severe heatwave during the next five days.
The IMD has said that heavy rainfall is very likely to occur over Arunachal Pradesh (April 9 and 10), Sub-Himalayan West Bengal-Sikkim (April 8-10), over Assam-Meghalaya (April 9-12).
Assam-Meghalaya will also face heavy rainfall on April 10-12, according to the IMD.Heavy rainfall is likely over south Tamil Nadu and south Kerala on April 8-9. The weather department also said that light rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning is very likely over Kerala-Mahe, Lakshadweep, Tamilnadu-Puducherry-Karaikal, coastal and south interior Karnataka during the next five days.
For the plains, a "heat wave" is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 4.5 notches above normal. A "severe" heat wave is declared if the departure from normal temperature is more than 6.5 notches or 7 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD.
India recorded its warmest March in 122 years with a severe heatwave scorching large swathes of the country during the month. The IMD attributed the 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 recorded a rainfall of 8.9 mm, which was 71 per cent less than its long period average rainfall of 30.4 mm. It was also third-lowest precipitation in March since 1901 after 7.2 mm in 1909 and 8.7 mm in 1908.