Delhi Hits 23.7°C on Warmest Republic Day in 8 Years

Record-breaking warm Republic Day in Delhi comes with the worst air quality since last December
Record warmth in the Capital on Republic Day after eight years, with maximum temperature at 23.7 degrees Celsius, that's two degrees above normal, said India Meteorological Department. Previously, it was a high of 26.1 degrees Celsius for Republic Day recorded way back in 2017.

Temperatures of Delhi oscillated in the last century on Republic Day. The long-period average or LPA of the maximum temperature on the day of January 26 since 1991 has been at 22.1 degrees Celsius. Against this, the LPA max for the last ten years has been pretty down-low, at 20.6 degrees Celsius for 2024, at 17.3 degrees Celsius for 2023 and at 16.4 degrees Celsius for 2022.

According to the IMD, clear skies and dry northwesterly winds have caused the above-normal maximum temperatures. The conditions have led to uninterrupted sunlight and warmer daytime conditions. The same conditions have also led to a drop in nighttime temperatures.
Night Temperatures Drop, New Weather Patterns Expected
The minimum temperature on 26 January was 7.2°C below normal. This was less compared to 8.6°C reported here on 25 January and 9.8°C on 24 January.
A western disturbance would be the another one in this area around 28 January, thereby changing the entire wind flow condition and keeping the low wind speed conditions favorable for clouding. Vice president at Skymet Mahesh Palawat stated that clouds will absorb generated night time heats thus would thrust minimum temperatures over the weekend anywhere within a range of 9 to 11 degrees. Maximum temperatures ought to remain steady between 24 and 26 degrees by the period of time.

Air quality deteriorates to 'poor'
Delhi air quality has also worsened. AQI has come down from the "moderate" category of January 25 with a value of 174 to the "poor" category of January 26 with a value of 216. EWS for Delhi has said that levels of AQI are likely to remain in the "poor" category on January 27 and 28 but will deteriorate further to the "very poor" category on January 29.

These levels of AQI fall into categories as follows:

0–50: Good
51–100: Satisfactory
101–200: Moderate
201–300: Poor
301–400: Very Poor
401–500: Severe
Health effect by poor or very poor quality of air, over a longer period, is able to be imposed on health; such an effect targets sensitive populations that include children, old people, and those with some pre-existing respiratory problems.

Some Important Factors Causing Changes in Weather and Air Quality
The clear and dry northwesterly winds have added to day time heating and night time cooling at Delhi. But the fresh western disturbance may usher in changes: greater cloudiness may somewhat check the minimum cooling at night and enhance the minimum and maximum temperatures by a few degrees each.

Generalisation, the air quality deteriorates as it is backed by lower speed winds and subsequently gets polluted at an arrested level. As a consequence, the weather as well as the polluting contributions might further degrade the air quality due to western disturbance incoming into the region.

Outlook in the Future
The city will see warm days and nights, possibly with bad air. Monitoring is done by the IMD and EWS, which update people with regular alerts.

Source: India Meteorological Department (IMD), Skymet, PTI