Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 44 degrees today. (Representational)
Head of the Indian Meteorological Department's regional weather forecasting Centre in Delhi, Kuldeep Srivastava, said this is the highest temperature of the season so far. Delhities need to brace themselves for the warmer days ahead as the MeT office has predicted similar conditions for Saturday.
The heatwave conditions are expected at isolated places, he added.
However, a duststorm and cloudy sky under the influence of a fresh western disturbance may provide some relief from Saturday evening onwards.
The Safdardunj observatory - Delhi's primary weather station - observed a maximum temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius, which is three notches above the normal.
Moreover, Najafgarh recorded the highest temperature in the national capital at 44.1 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Pusa, Jafarpur and Pitampura recorded 43, 43.1 and 43.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The sky remained clear throughout the day with the minimum temperature settling six notches below normal at 19.3 deg Celsius.
The humidity oscillated between 77 per cent and 18 per cent.
The weather office has predicted a partly cloudy clear sky for Saturday with a possibility of a dust storm, towards evening and night.
"The maximum and minimum temperature would be around 43 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively," it said.
Delhi's 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the 'poor' category with a reading of 227 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 city experienced a long spell of cloudy weather and sporadic rainfall from April 21 to May 7, which is rare during this time of the year. May has been historically the hottest month in Delhi, with a mean maximum temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius.
Officials attribute this to the back-to-back western disturbances, weather systems that originate in the Mediterranean region and bring unseasonal rainfall to northwest India.
"Northwest India has seen three to four WDs since April 21-22. Delhi has not recorded a single heatwave day during this period. This is unusual. However, we cannot link it to climate change in the absence of data. There is no definite trend," Mr Srivastava said.
On Thursday last week, Delhi saw an unusual episode of dense fog. The minimum temperature dropped to 15.8 degrees Celsius, making it the third coldest morning in May since the IMD started keeping weather records in 1901.
In 2022, Delhi recorded its second hottest April since 1951 with a monthly average maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius. The city saw nine heatwave days in April last year, including four in the first 10 days, which was the maximum in the month since 2010.
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