Delhi’s sees rise in min temperature as IMD forecasts heatwave conditions

The minimum temperature saw a slight rise on Saturday, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert for the day, warning of possible heatwave conditions in isolated parts.

Safdarjung, representative of the city’s weather, recorded a minimum temperature of 25.2 degrees Celsius, 2.5 degrees above the normal and a mere 0.7 degree rise from a day before.

Other weather stations also recorded a slight increase in the minimum temperature on Saturday. This comes a day after isolated parts of the city recorded the season’s first heatwave conditions.

Palam recorded a minimum of 26.8 degrees Celsius, a 1.2 degree change from Friday; Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 24 degrees, 1.4 degrees more than a day before; and Ayanagar recorded 25.1 degrees Celsius as the minimum, a 1.7 degree increase.

“There might be heatwave conditions in isolated parts of the city. Sustained surface winds of speed 15-25 kmph might be observed during the day,” an IMD official said.

The weather department has forecast the maximum temperature to remain around 40-42 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi stood at 243 (poor) at 9 am, as compared to the 24-hour average AQI of 226 (poor) recorded at 4 pm on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

As per CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.

The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the AQI to remain in the poor category over the weekend and then improve to the moderate category in the subsequent days.

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