Delhi records hottest February in two years

New Delhi: The capital city of Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday. It is seven notches above the season's average and the highest in February in two years.

"The minimum temperature settled at 11.4 degrees Celsius, normal for the season," said the India Meteorological Department. The relative humidity oscillated between 50% and 95%. At 6 pm on Sunday, the 24-hour air quality index (AQI) in the national capital stood at 332, under the 'very poor' category.

The weather department said shallow fog is to be expected for Monday morning. "The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle at 32 and 12 degrees Celsius, respectively. On Friday, the maximum and minimum temperatures settled at 29.6 and 11.7 degrees Celsius, respectively." Delhi's temperature is 5 degrees Celsius higher than expected around this time of the year.

The IMD has also predicted that mercury will be on the rise in several northwestern and central states of India in the next 4-5 days. The forecast issued on Saturday evening said: "The minimum temperature in several states in India will rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius in the coming days. It is expected that the winter wave is over in most of the states for now."

Several parts of India, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh might experience a rise in temperature on Sunday, while the temperature in Gujarat is expected to fall over the weekend, said the weather update. "No significant change in minimum temperatures is expected over Gujarat during the next three days. Thereafter, a fall of 2-3 degrees Celsius is likely."

"We are closely monitoring the temperature recordings in the Gujarat and Saurashtra region. In 2022 also, during the spring months, we saw that the impact of western disturbances was less, leading to higher solar insolation over the plains," said a MeT official.