Delhi’s days and nights will get significantly warmer by the end of the week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its weekly forecast on Sunday, predicting that the maximum temperature will inch past 40°C around April 15 as the relative reprieve brought by a western disturbance begins to wane and a harsh summer sets in.

Northwesterly winds over the past few days kept the minimum temperature in check, but these are now expected to fizzle out, with the air is now likely to remain calm and get more warm.

“The strong surface winds over the past week continued on Sunday as well, with average speeds of 25-35kmph. However these surface winds will get slower by Tuesday,” said IMD scientist Kuldeep Srivastava.

“The minimum might rise three to four degrees in the next few days,” he said, adding that “the maximum is expected to touch 40°C by April 15”.

IMD data showed that the maximum crossed 40°C on April 16 last year and on April 8 in 2022.

Delhi on Sunday recorded a maximum of 35.6°C, a degree above normal, and a minimum of 16.3°C, four below normal.

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Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of private forecaster Skymet, said, “The north-westerlies were helping keep the temperature down. The humidity will also increase in the following week.”

The city’s air quality index (AQI), meanwhile, remained in the “moderate” zone with a reading of 178 on Sunday at 4pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin. The AQI was 167 (moderate) at the same time on Saturday.

“The air quality is likely to remain in the moderate category till April 8. The air quality is likely to be in poor category on April 9 and in moderate category on April 10,” said the AQEWS bulletin on Sunday.

CPCB classifies an AQI between 0-50 as good, between 51 and 100 as satisfactory, between 101 and 200 as moderate, between 201 and 300 as poor, between 301 and 400 as very poor and over 400 as severe.