A fresh spell of heatwave is likely to sweep the national capital on Friday with the maximum temperature likely to touch 44 degrees celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The minimum temperature settled at 28.1 which is three notches above normal. The relative humidity at 8:30 was recorded at 62 per cent, the weather office said. The city air quality was recorded in the moderate category. The AQI was 158 at 9:47 am, according to the data from SAFAR-India Air Quality Service.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. The IMD has issued a yellow alert, warning of a heatwave at most places in the capital on Friday and Saturday.
An orange alert has been issued to caution people about a severe heatwave on Sunday. The IMD uses four colour codes -- green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action)-- for weather warning.
The maximum is predicted to touch the 45-degree mark at the Safdarjung Observatory on Sunday. Temperatures may leap to 46-47 degrees Celsius at isolated places, weather experts said. A heatwave spell was predicted over Delhi from Sunday last, but easterly winds prevailing in the national capital under the impact of Cyclone Asani shielded the city against it.
Back-to-back patchy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds had provided some respite from the intense heat last week. Delhi had witnessed a hot and dry March, gauging nil rainfall against the normal of 15.9 mm. It got 0.3 mm of rainfall in April against a monthly average of 12.2 mm.
(With PTI inputs)
