Delhi sees warm Thursday, Friday to be cloudy

It was another warm day for the capital Thursday with the maximum temperature shooting up to 39.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above average Thursday. The met department has forecast a cloudy Friday.

A bright sun made for a sultry day for residents who were not expecting hot weather during the monsoon which arrived a fortnight earlier than its due date. However, weather officials said this was a feature of the monsoon.

"It is a phase of weak monsoon... It does not mean that there will be no rains," said an official of the India Meteorological Department here.

The minimum temperature settled three notches below average at 25.3 degrees Celsius, while humidity wavered between a high and low of 92 and 49 percent.

According to IMD, the sky will be partly cloudy Friday.

Friday's maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 39 and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Meanwhile, the water level in the Yamuna started receding in Delhi Thursday morning but stayed above the danger mark of 204.83 metres. Many low-lying areas in the city also remained inundated.

"The volume of water in Yamuna that is visible now is huge. Crossing Yamuna by Metro, one is forced to wonder, if the water increases some more, probably the Yamuna bank metro station will be flooded," said Ritesh Singh, who lives in east Delhi.

"The water level, which rose to 207.20 metres mark (on Wednesday), came down to 207.15 metres around 9 a.m. today (Thursday). But it is still above the danger mark of 204.83 metres," Dharampal, secretary of Delhi's revenue and disaster management department, told IANS.