At 44.2 degrees Celsius, Delhi records hottest day of the year so far

Delhi's Safdarjung observatory, which is India capital's base weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 44.2 degrees Celsius on Saturday, making it the hottest day of the year so far. The mercury settled at five notches above normal with the minimum temperature recorded at 26.5 degrees Celsius. Before today, the hottest days of the year were 28, 29 and 30 April , when the maximum temperature at Safdarjung was recorded at 43.5 degrees Celsius.

Furthermore, according to 24-hour temperature observations by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), more than five weather stations in the national capital recorded over 45 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

The highest maximum temperature at any station was recorded at 47.2 degrees Celsius at Mungeshwar station, followed by Najafgarh at 47 degrees Celsius - eight and seven notches above normal, respectively.

Ridge, Ayanagar, Pitampura, Jafarpur and Sports Complex (in Akshardham) were other base weather stations in Delhi where the mercury was recorded above 45 degrees Celsius.

Met records show that the mercury has hit, or surpassed, 45 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung twice in the last four years.

Last year, the highest maximum temperature at the base station in May was only 41.6 degrees Celsius (5 May), while in 2020 and 2019, it was 46 degrees Celsius (27 May ) and 44.7 degrees Celsius (31 May), respectively.

The all-time record for hottest May day is 47.2 degrees Celsius, which was recorded at Safdarjung on 29 May, 1944.

This comes even as the Met department has predicted that heatwave to severe heatwave conditions will prevail throughout Saturday and continue on Sunday. An orange alert was issued for Saturday, which is a warning call for preventive action ahead of a weather phenomenon.

A yellow alert has been issued for Sunday, with the maximum temperature expected to hover between 44 and 46 degrees Celsius at most weather stations.