Season’s first dust storm sweeps in after 42.3°C temperature

By the time the dust storm arrived on Monday evening, Delhi had already spent the day gasping. The thermometer at Safdarjung had touched 42.3 degrees Celsius, the second-hottest day of the month, three degrees above normal, the kind of heat that sits on the city like a weight. Then, without much warning, the western sky turned brown. The first dust storm of the season had arrived in the Capital.

This correspondent was on the road near Connaught Place when the light changed first. The afternoon had been still and punishing. Then the trees along the boulevard began to shiver. A tea stall owner at a corner on Baba Kharak Singh Marg scrambled to pull a plastic sheet over his setup, tucking down the edges with practised urgency. A shopkeeper outside a small provisions store near Rajiv Chowk dragged his display rack inside, fruit rolling off the edges as he moved. Within minutes, the dust arrived on the wall, gritty and warm, reducing visibility on the road to a few dozen metres. Then came the wind, hard and insistent.

The national Capital, which had been reeling under near heatwave conditions since morning, was swept by high-speed winds and dust late in the evening amid an ongoing yellow alert for thunderstorms and rain. The abrupt weather turn brought the first real sign of relief after days of relentless heat. Across the city, temperatures remained similarly severe. The Ridge station logged the highest maximum at 43.8 degrees Celsius, while Ayanagar recorded 43.2 degrees Celsius. Lodhi Road touched 42.4 degrees, and Palam also settled at 42.3 degrees Celsius.

For a city that had been told all morning to brace for another scorching day, the evening shift felt like a release valve finally giving way. “We have been waiting for this since last week,” said Ramesh, who runs a tea stall near Barakhamba Road. “The heat had become unbearable. Even in the shade, it was difficult to breathe.”

A fruit vendor near India Gate, who had been sitting under a tree since midday, said the dust storm had scattered his arrangement, but he was not complaining. “Let it come. Let it rain properly. We can deal with the rest.”

The IMD had said through the morning that a shift was coming, but placed it firmly on Tuesday. “Changing conditions will start bringing relief from Tuesday,” the forecast read, with overcast skies and rain expected to pull the maximum down to between 40 and 42 degrees Celsius. By Wednesday, temperatures were forecast to ease further to between 39 and 41 degrees, and an IMD official added that cloudiness would persist on Thursday, with the maximum potentially falling close to 37 degrees Celsius.

Mahesh Palawat of Skymet attributed the incoming system to a cyclonic circulation over central Pakistan, northwest Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana. “It is currently strong and moving toward northeast India. Parts of Rajasthan and Haryana may receive rainfall tonight, and the system is expected to reach Delhi on Tuesday and persist till April 30,” Palawat said. He added that high winds moving from Rajasthan could trigger dust storms alongside moderate rainfall and thunderstorms.

Monday evening moved faster than the forecast. The dust storm that preceded the rain brought wind gusts that sent plastic chairs skidding across pavements and forced pedestrians to cover their faces and turn away. Within half an hour of the first brown wall appearing on the horizon, the rain had arrived in earnest.

Minimum temperatures across stations also remained above normal. Safdarjung recorded a minimum of 25.0 degrees Celsius, about 1.2 degrees above normal, while Palam reported 26.0 degrees Celsius, about 1.1 degrees above normal. Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 23.6 degrees Celsius, about 0.6 degrees above normal, Ridge 25.8 degrees Celsius, 0.9 degrees above normal, and Ayanagar 24.4 degrees Celsius, about 0.7 degrees above normal.

The IMD has predicted thunderstorms with rain for April 28 and 29, with a yellow alert active through the week. Dust storms and gusty winds of up to 50 kilometres per hour are expected through Tuesday, to April 30.