'Orange Alert' as temperature shoots to 47 degrees in NCR areas

As the mercury touched a scorching 47 degrees Celsius in Noida and Palam and other NCR areas too recorded high temperatures on Wednesday, the Met office declared an 'Orange Alert' and asked people to take precaution against the intense heat wave.

The mercury touched 46.4 degrees in certain Delhi areas while the maximum temperature elsewhere settled at 43.7 degrees, three notches above the season's average, said the weather office.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a rise in temperature on Thursday as well, a mainly clear sky and very likely dust haze towards morning and evening.

"The temperature may rise in the coming days," it said.

According to private weather forecasters, temperature in Palam and Noida soared to 47 degrees on Wednesday, mostly attributable to dry north-western winds.

"In Palam area, the temperature reached 47 degrees," private weather forecaster Skymet's director Mahesh Palawat told IANS.

The IMD office said its Palam observatory, one of the 50 in the city, recorded 46.4 degrees on Wednesday.

"The city had recorded its highest temperature at 47.2 degrees in 1994."

"We advise people to take precautious against the heat wave in Delhi. We are still gathering the latest data. We have declared an Orange Alert," a Met official told IANS.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 44 and 28 degrees respectively, said an IMD official.

Wednesday's minimum was 26.4 degrees, average for the season, while the humidity oscillated between 56 and 17 percent.

The maximum on Tuesday was 43.3 degrees, three notches above the season's average, while the minimum was 28.6 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average.

--IANS

rak-kd/tsb