Red alert in Delhi: Severe heatwave to push mercury to 45°C

Even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that New Delhi will get some relief from severe heatwave on Wednesday, the weatherman has issued a red alert for capital on Tuesday as the temperature is expected to soar above 45 degrees Celsius.

The Met department predicted that clear skies with heatwave in some areas while other areas were expected to experience severe heatwave conditions on Tuesday. Strong surface winds are also predicted during the day.

From June 19, a new western disturbance will move towards northwestern India, bringing relief from the soaring temperatures. IMD is predicting yellow alert in the Delhi from Wednesday and by Friday, the city will be issued green alert amid rain forecast.

The primary Safdurjung Obervatory recorded a maximum temperature of 45.2 degrees Celsius while Palam weather station saw 46 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 45.6 degrees and Ayanagar 46.4 degrees. Both Ridge and Najafgarh observatories witnessed 46.3 degrees Celsius maximum temperature.

On Monday, the maximum temperature was 45 degrees Celsius, 6.4 notches above normal, while minimum was recorded at 33 degrees Celsius, 5.5 notches above normal.