Delhi on Yellow alert from May 11 to 15, heatwave to return on Wednesday

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert, warning of a fresh heatwave spell in Delhi which may see temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius by Wednesday.

The heatwave spell may continue till May 15 as a mitigating weather system is unlikely to affect northwest India over the next one week, weather experts said.

Though there won't be a steep rise in temperatures in most parts of Delhi as easterly winds are prevailing in the region under the impact of Cyclone Asani over the Bay of Bengal, the increase in humidity levels can cause discomfort, said Mahesh Palawat, Vice President (Meteorology and Climate Change), Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.

"Without the easterly winds, temperatures would have leaped to 46-47 degrees Celsius," he said.

A trough extends from western parts of Haryana to south peninsula, across east Madhya Pradesh and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Easterly winds are prevailing in the north of the trough and westerly in the south.

Temperatures in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Vidarbha may jump to 46-47 degrees Celsius due to the dry and hot westerly winds, he said.

On Monday, the Safdarjung observatory, Delhi's base station, recorded a maximum temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal for this time of the year. The minimum temperature settled at 27.6 degrees Celsius.

Back-to-back patchy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds had provided some respite from the intense heat last week.

The mercury started creeping up on the weekend and hit the 42-degree mark at some places on Sunday.

Delhi had witnessed a hot and dry March, gauging nil rainfall against the normal of 15.9 mm. It got 0.3 mm of rainfall in April against a monthly average of 12.2 mm.

A heatwave at the month-end had sent the mercury soaring to 46 and 47 degrees Celsius in several parts of Delhi.