A western disturbances over the hills and a cyclonic circulation over neighbouring regions are expected to bring strong surface winds to the Capital, provide relief from soaring temperatures over the next few days, and keep heatwave conditions at bay, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
On Wednesday, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 39.1 degrees Celsius (°C), which was above normal by 2.3°C and also higher than the 37.9°C recorded a day earlier. The minimum was 23.4°C, slightly lower than the 24°C recorded a day before.
“A fresh western disturbance started impacting the hilly regions from Wednesday. This is expected to continue till April 20-21, with maximum intensity on Friday and Saturday. Cloudy conditions are predicted over Delhi from Thursday due to the this and drizzle over isolated parts of the city might occur,” said Krishna Mishra, scientist at IMD.
“A cyclonic circulation over Pakistan and neighbouring areas will also result in a strong southwesterly wind to blow over the Capital. This will lead to moderate to strong surface winds, including ‘dust raging wind’ over the next couple of days,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.
IMD has forecast sustained surface winds of 10-20kmph on Thursday. Mishra said, “Strong surface winds of speed 20-30kmph, gusting to 40kmph, are likely from Friday to Sunday. The heatwave warning that was in place for the second half of this week was, however, removed.”
IMD has forecast a maximum temperature of 39°C to 41°C for the next two days, and a minimum temperature of 24°C to 26°C on Thursday. It forecast the minimum to dip to 23°C to 25°C by Friday.
The air quality index (AQI), meanwhile, deteriorated to the “poor” category on Wednesday, after five consecutive days of “moderate” air. The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 220 at 4pm on Wednesday, worse than the reading of 180 (“moderate”) recorded a day earlier.
The AQI was 194 at the same time on Monday, 178 on Sunday, 166 on Saturday, 164 on Friday and 256 (“poor”) on Thursday.
According to forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi, the AQI is expected to improve to “moderate” again by Thursday.
“The air quality is likely to be in the moderate category from Thursday to Saturday. The outlook for the subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the moderate to poor category,” the AQEWS bulletin said on Wednesday evening.