In some good news for Delhiites, the India Meteorological Department on Wednesday said the monsoon is likely to reach the national capital three to four days earlier than the usual date of June 27. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said that a cyclonic circulation over West Bengal and the neighbourhood will move towards southwest Uttar Pradesh by June 19 and June 20.
"It will help in further advancement of the monsoon in west Uttar Pradesh, some parts of Uttarakhand, northeast Rajasthan and eastern Haryana between June 22 and June 24," he said.
This means that the wind system will reach the national capital by June 22-23, which is three to four days earlier.
The IMD has predicted normal rainfall (103 per cent) for northwest India this year.
Srivastava said dry weather will prevail in Delhi on June 18 and June 19.
On Wednesday, most places in the city recorded the mercury above the 40 degrees Celsius-mark.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a maximum of 41 degrees Celsius, which was two notches above normal.
The weather stations at Pusa and Palam recorded the maximum temperature at 42.8 degrees Celsius and 42.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Humidity levels oscillated between 43 and 77 per cent.
The MeT department has predicted a partly cloudy sky and strong surface winds (upto 30 kilometers per hour) on Thursday.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle at 41 and 29 degrees Celsius.