Delhi Boiling At 52.9 Degrees Celsius? Here's What IMD Said
As Mungeshpur in Northwest Delhi recorded its highest-ever temperature at 52.9 degrees Celsius, IMD says it is ‘examining data, sensors’.
Delhi is currently facing severe heatwave conditions with IMD issuing red alert for the capital city as temperatures in the city reached around 46-50 degrees Celsius. Mungeshpur in Northwest Delhi recorded its highest-ever temperature at 52.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the highest ever in India.
Soon after this news came out, the India Meteorological Department said that it could be due to an error in the sensor or a local factor. The weather agency called it as an “outlier compared to other stations”.
The maximum temperature recorded on May 29, 2024, by the five departmental observatories (Safdarjung, Palam, Ayanagar, Ridge and Lodi Road) and 15 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) installed by IMD showed that the maximum temperature over Delhi NCR varied from 45.2 degrees Celsius to 49.1 degrees Celsius in different parts of the city.
The weather agency said that it is examining the data and sensors. IMD Director General M Mohapatra mentioned that a team of specialists has gone to Mungeshpur to check the temperature sensor.
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Earth Sciences and Minister of Food Processing Industries took to social platform X to confirm that senior officials of IMD have been asked to verify the news report. he later posted the official statement issued by the weather department.
Delhi's primary weather station Safdarjung observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 46.8 degrees Celsius, the highest in 79 years.
IMD in its latest press release also stated that the maximum temperature on May 29 has fallen over Delhi at many places compared to the previous day. It has rained at many places in Delhi in the afternoon resulting in a further fall in temperature. It stated that the heatwave conditions will reduce during the next 2-3 days due to a gradual fall in temperature in association with approaching western disturbance, rainfall/thunderstorms and southwesterly wind blowing from the Arabian Sea to northwest India.
