Cloudy skies and winds keep temp in check

Gurgaon: The city’s maximum temperature on Saturday was 36.6 degrees Celsius, a dip of 2.4 notches from Friday’s 39 degrees. It was a notch below the season’s normal.The nighttime temperature also experienced a slight dip — it was 23.3 degrees Celsius on Saturday compared to Friday’s 25.1 degrees, which was the highest for the season so far. Saturday’s minimum temperature was, however, five notches above normal. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), partly cloudy skies and strong surface north-westerly winds with speeds of up to 25kmph kept the temperature in check on Saturday. The relative humidity index oscillated between 17% and 43% throughout the day.The forecast suggests the city is likely to see dry weather conditions in the coming days. Isolated rainfall is likely in parts of northern and southeastern Haryana over the next three days, IMD said.Due to a western disturbance, a cyclonic circulation is currently taking place over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Muzaffarabad regions in the lower and middle tropospheric levels. An induced cyclonic circulation is also present over Haryana.“Under its influence, isolated to scattered rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds with speeds of 30km-40kmph is likely over parts of Haryana during April 21-23. But the city is likely to witness dry weather. A fresh western disturbance is expected to affect the region from April 22. We are not expecting any significant change in the maximum temperature during the next 4-5 days,” an IMD official said.The highest maximum temperature on Saturday recorded in the state was 39.3°C in Narnaul.Despite the strong winds, the city’s air quality deteriorated on Saturday to ‘very poor’. The air quality index was recorded at 371, compared to 267 on the previous day.Meanwhile in Delhi, the day temperature on Saturday was 37.2 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, which is the city’s base station. The minimum temperature on Saturday was 23.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees above normal. The Met department has predicted that the maximum temperature may hover around 40 degrees Celsius from April 23 to 25 and may touch 41 degrees Celsius on April 26. “Strong surface winds with speeds of 25kmph to 35kmph are expected for the next three days. Strong winds are likely to prevail in the region during the day,” said a Met official.Delhi’s AQI worsened to ‘poor’ at 217 on Saturday. It was 183 (moderate) the day before.