Just when we were thinking that winter is over and summer is making an entry in North India, back to back Western Disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir gave a prolonged spell of rain in the region and affected the temperature profile.
The national capital Delhi is the best example of this change in temperature as the minimum at the Palam Observatory settled at 9.2°C on Tuesday morning, which is almost 4 degrees below the normal average (14.3°C). It is also the lowest minimum recorded in last ten years. The previous lowest was 9.6°C, recorded on March 2, 2013. The all-time low is 3.4°C, observed on March 1, 1972.
The Safdarjung Observatory has also been recording below normal temperatures. On Tuesday morning the minimum temperature had settled at 10°C, which is 5 degrees below the normal (15.3 degrees). In fact it is close to the 10-year low of 9.6°C.
The maximum temperatures have also dropped by almost 5-6 degrees in the city. According to the data available with Skymet, the Palam Observatory recorded 24.2°C as the maximum on Monday, which is 5 degrees below the monthly average of 29.8°C. While the Safdarjung Observatory saw the maximum settle at 24.1°C, which is also 5 degrees below the normal of 29.2°C.
There hasn’t been a single day when the maximum temperature in the last ten days has touched 30°C, which is often observed during the month of March. In the past the maximums have also touched 40°C. But looking at the weather models at Skymet the temperatures are not going to rise in the next 4-5 days as a fresh Western Disturbance is expected to give rain in Delhi and North India by March 13.
