Blistering winds: How Rajasthan and Haryana turning up Delhi's heat

NEW DELHI: This season, amid record temperatures, the weather station at Safdarjung, the city’s base station, recorded four days with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius. However, on the western fringes of Delhi, Mungeshpur, Najafgarh and Jafarpur, among others, have logged nine such days so far.

An analysis of the India Meteorological Department's data for May reveals temperature variations of three to four degrees across different weather stations in Delhi.Experts in meteorology attribute these differences to the geography and local factors that influence temperatures. For instance, Mungeshpur and Narela recorded a maximum of 49.9 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. In contrast, Safdarjung logged 45.8 degrees Celsius, making it four degrees lower than Mungeshpur. Narela, which is also located on the western side of Delhi which bears the brunt of hot winds from Rajasthan, has witnessed five days of the mercury remaining high above normal. Data on some days were unavailable.
On Wednesday, Safdarjung recorded the city’s second highest ever temperature at 46.2 degrees Celsius, six degrees above normal. The all-time high was logged on May 29, 1944, at 47.2 degrees Celsius. Amid this, the thermometers in some weather stations reached the 50 degrees Celsius or nearabout.
“Dry and hot winds from Rajasthan and south Haryana have a higher influence on areas like Mungeshpur, Najafgarh, Jafarpur and Narela due to their geography. As these locations are located on western side of Delhi, these winds reach them first before other parts of the city,” explained Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, IMD. “Besides, these areas have dry and open areas like agricultural land, which heat up in the direct sunlight.”
Palam has seen eight days in May of the maximum temperature going above 45 degrees Celsius. “Since Palam is located near the airport, the emissions from flights impact the temperature. But stations like Rajghat and Mayur Vihar, which are located near the Yamuna, aren’t as hot as Mungeshpur, Najafgarh and Narela,” said Srivastava, who pointed out that some places in Rajasthan and Haryana, like Churu and Sirsa, are already recording temperatures nearing 50 degrees Celsius.
Lodhi Road has witnessed three days of over 45 degrees Celsius this year. Met officials said Safdarjung and Lodhi Road are not as hot as the western stations due to better green cover. “Safdarjung and Lodhi Road are located in central Delhi, which has quite a bit of green cover to prevent the heat from rising much,” said an official.
IMD said temperature in urban areas varied from place to place due to local factors such as proximity to waterbodies, barrenness of land, presence of concrete structures and dense urban clusters, green areas, etc.
An outlier temperature of above 52ºC was reported from Mungeshpur on Wednesday, but this is being evaluated and rechecked. In any case, the locality’s record of 49.2 degrees Celsius in 2002 had been broken the day before, with the mercury touching 49.9 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
Scientists studying how extreme weather events are showing change said that climate change, predominantly caused by burning fossil fuels and exacerbated by human interference, was making heatwaves hotter and more likely everywhere in the world. Dr V Vinoj of IIT Bhubaneswar said, “On longer time scales, Delhi's temperature change of 30-35% is due to urbanisation. Therefore, it's essential to carefully analyse and determine the reason for such extremes as their probability of occurrence (not just in cities, but also rural areas) will only keep increasing due to climate change.”
Aarti Khosla, director, Climate Trends, added, “Temperatures in Delhi and the neighbouring states in the last two days are proof that the issue is now about survivability. It’s no longer an 'elsewhere' problem.” She said that as more and more Indian cities developed quickly, climate resilience needed to be incorporated immediately in planning to reduce the compounding impacts of extreme heat across on human health, economy and livelihoods.