Delhi Weather Update: June begins on a cooler note, mercury drops to 20.6°C

New Delhi: Delhi started June on a cool note with cloudy skies and an after-effect of rains over the past few days. The Safdarjung observatory, the capital’s primary weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 20.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday, six notches below normal. Generally, the sky will be cloudy during the day, light rain and strong winds are expected. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the maximum temperature is likely to be around 35 degrees Celsius.

According to the IMD, Delhi recorded the coldest May in 36 years, this time with the average maximum temperature coming down to 36.8 degrees Celsius due to excess rainfall.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional forecasting centre, said Delhi recorded an average maximum temperature of 36 degrees Celsius in May 1987.

“The average maximum temperature in May this year was 36.8 degrees Celsius, which is the lowest since then,” he said.

Delhi recorded maximum temperature above the 40-degree mark for only nine days in May, with heatwave conditions affecting parts of the national capital for two days.

“The Safdarjung observatory has not recorded any heat wave in the pre-monsoon season this year. This is the first time since 2014,” Srivastava said.

The weather center recorded 13 heatwave days in the pre-monsoon season last year – nine in April and four in May. It saw just one heatwave day during this period in 2021, four in 2020 and one in 2019.

The heatwave threshold is met when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40°C in plains, 37°C in coastal areas and 30°C in hilly areas and the departure from normal is at least 4.5°C.

May, usually the hottest month in Delhi with an average maximum temperature of 39.5°C, recorded 111 mm of rainfall, which is 262 per cent more than the long-term average of 30.7 mm.

According to IMD data, this is the fourth highest rainfall recorded after 165 mm in 2008, 144.8 mm in 2021 and 129.3 mm in 2002.

The city recorded over 20 mm of rainfall in April, the highest in the month since 2017, and heat wave conditions in isolated areas.

Meteorologists have attributed the excess rainfall and below-normal temperatures this pre-monsoon season (March to May) to higher-than-normal Western Disturbances – weather systems that originate over the Mediterranean and bring unseasonal rains over northwest India brings

“Usually, five to six western disturbances are recorded over the northern plains in April and May. This time, we saw 10 western disturbances, mostly strong,” Srivastava said.

“It is unusual. However, we cannot link it to climate change in the absence of data. There is no definite trend,” he said.

According to the IMD, Delhi recorded 184.3 mm of rainfall this pre-monsoon season (March to May), which is 186 per cent more than the normal.