New Delhi records hottest day as temperature crosses 52°C
On Wednesday, New Delhi experienced its hottest day on record, with temperatures soaring past 52°C in the Indian capital. The Indian Meteorological Department recorded a temperature of 52.3°C at New Delhi’s Mungeshpur station. The average temperature across various weather stations in the city remained above 48°C.
On Wednesday, the peak power demand in the capital reached 8,302 MW, surpassing the previous record of 7,695 MW set in 2022.
Recently, India has been experiencing a heatwave that has significantly disrupted daily life.
On Tuesday, the Safdarjung weather office in New Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 49.9°C in certain areas of the city.
On the same day, two stations in the capital recorded the “highest temperature ever” in the city, Mritunjay Mohapatra of the Indian Meteorological Department told The National.
On Tuesday, temperatures in Delhi’s Najafgarh area reached 49.7°C, while Pitampura and Pusa recorded 48.5°C.
Churu, located in the western state of Rajasthan, was the hottest place in the country on Tuesday, with temperatures hitting 50.5°C. Meanwhile, Sirsa in the neighboring state of Haryana recorded 50.3°C.
“It is unbearably hot,” Manish Saini, a grocery shop owner in Churu, told The National. “There is a shortage of water. We can’t sleep at night because of the heat. We do not have air conditioners.
“No one leaves their home after 10 a.m., and we hardly get any customers,” he said.
When the maximum temperature breaches the 40°C mark, this is classed as a heatwave. It is forecast to remain well above the normal seasonal temperature for two or more days, the Meteorological Department said.
Authorities issued a red alert warning for extremely hot temperatures on Wednesday, covering Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat.
While north and north-western India typically endure severe summers, temperatures are exceptionally high this year due to the absence of “Western Disturbance,” according to Mr. Mohapatra.
Global temperature changes during April – 1880 to 2024
In April 2024, global temperatures were 1.32°C higher than the base period
The Western Disturbance is a weather system that comes from the Mediterranean and brings moisture-rich clouds to the subcontinent and eventually rain.
“Every year, the temperature goes high in the month of May,” Mr Mohapatra said. “Sometimes, it could be so high that there is a heatwave.
“There is no Western Disturbance, no thunderstorm or rain activity, so that’s why the temperature is going up over average. There is subsidence of air over north-western India.”
“From May 30, temperatures will fall,” he said.
