As mercury soars in Delhi, dust storm likely to hit national capital in next 48-hours

Delhi is witnessing hot days as mercury on Wednesday touched 41.7 degrees Celsius. Some areas even crossed the 43-degree mark according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). “A feeble Western Disturbance is affecting northwest India, but there is no moisture in this region. So, we are only expecting thunderstorms in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. The dust storm is a result of heat. There may be thunderstorms in Jammu and Kashmir as well,” Hindustan Times quoted director general of meteorology at IMD, M Mohapatra as saying.

In Delhi, the maximum temperature is likely to drop by 2°C-3°C on days the storm hits. 

“The temperature in Delhi was forecast to rise and is likely to stay in this range for the next few days. Parts of the national capital region (NCR) are seeing a heat wave and the maximum is unlikely to go down much. A dust storm is expected to hit NCR from Rajasthan in the next 48 hours,” a senior Met official said.

“Warm winds are blowing and the minimum temperature, which was around 22 degrees on Tuesday, increased to 27.1 on Wednesday. It’s likely to remain in the 27-28 range on Thursday,” he added.

The meteorological department has also warned that a cyclone is developing to the southeast of Sri Lanka, which will impact parts of Tamil Nadu on April 29 and 30.

“A trough of low pressure lies over equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal…The low-pressure area is very likely to intensify into a depression during subsequent 36 hours,” IMD said in a bulletin.