Delhiites should prepare themselves to experience more hot days as no respite from the sweltering heat seems to be on their way.
With the capital burning at 46.8 degree Celsius on Thursday and 44.8 degrees on Friday, the India Meteorological (Met) Department has issued a red-colour warning for NCR. It is expected that today the mercury may touch a maximum of 45 degree Celsius and a minimum of 29 degree Celsius.
"Heat wave at many places. Severe heat wave at isolated pockets reported in the Delhi-NCR region," the India Meteorological (Met) Department said.
Colour-coded warnings
The Met department has four colour-coded warnings: green, yellow, amber and red with green indicating normal temperatures and red extreme weather situations. Usually heat wave is declared when the maximum temperature touches 45 degree Celsius for two consecutive days in large areas and severe heat wave when it touches 47 degree Celsius.
But in smaller areas such as Delhi and its neighbouring region, heat wave is declared when the maximum temperature reaches 45° Celsius.
As per The Weather Channel, "heat-wave conditions will peak on Monday and continue until Tuesday".Predicting a weak beginning for the monsoon, forecasters have said that the monsoon will not reach North India till mid-June at the earliest.
"The wind direction will change from June 2 onwards. Easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal will travel to Delhi-NCR via Uttar Pradesh. It will lead to dust storm or thunderstorm in the national capital and nearby areas," MeT official said.
"Due to this high temperature, ozone pollution will increase further and ozone AQI is predicted to enter the higher end of moderate to poor (category) for the next two days which is very rare for Delhi," it said.
As a precautionary measure against heat wave, residents have been asked to limit moving out during peak hours.