New Delhi, April 7: After touching 36 degrees Celsius in the day, mercury in the national capital dipped by 6-7 degrees Celsius Sunday late evening following a dust storm and thunderstorm, the MeT Department said. Several parts of the city witnessed lightening, gusty winds, and light showers. The Palam and Safdurjung weather observatories recorded winds with a speed 40-50 kilometers per hour. Thunderstorm & Rain Accompanied With Dust Storm Likely in Uttar Pradesh, Says IMD.

"IGI reported winds upto 50 kmph in gusts at 0800 pm. May increase further," Jatin Singh, CEO of private weather forecasting agency Skymet, tweeted. The Palam observatory recorded 4.8 millimetres rainfall, the MeT Department said. During the day, the maximum temperature settled at 36 degrees Celsius. This was four degrees less than the maximum temperature recorded on Saturday. The minimum temperature was recorded at 25.6 degrees Celsius, six notches above the season's average.

"Temperatures dipped by around 6-7 degrees Celsius after the thunderstorm," a weather official said. Weathermen blamed intense temperatures across the north Indian plains and an induced cyclonic circulation over north-east Rajasthan, south-west Uttar Pradesh, south Haryana and the Delhi NCR region for the creation of thunderstorm.

This was aided by easterlies from the Bay of Bengal that brought moisture, leading to an ideal condition for formation of dust storms and thunderstorms across several parts of north India, said Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre of the India Meteorological Department said. Met Department Issues Thunderstorm, Dust Storm Alert in 26 Uttar Pradesh Districts.

Vice president (Meteorology And Climate Change) Skymet Mahesh Palawat said this is a normal phenomena which occurs during pre-monsoon days.

Whenever there is excessive heating and induced cyclonic circulation, there is an occurrence of thunderstorms, he said. The MeT Department has predicted partly cloudy sky for Monday with the possibility of very light rains, dust storm and thunderstorm. However, the intensity is likely to be less severe than Sunday.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)