India Corrects Delhi’s Reported Temperature from Last Week to 49.9 Celsius
NEW DELHI—The Indian government announced that a record temperature of 52.9 degrees Celsius (127.22 Fahrenheit) recorded in the capital city of New Delhi this week was incorrect by 3 degrees Celsius, attributing it to a sensor error, as per Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) conducted an investigation into the reading from the weather station at Mungeshpur on Wednesday, located in a densely populated area of Delhi, and discovered a sensor error of 3°C,” Minister Rijiju stated.
“Corrective actions have been taken,” the minister shared, revealing the findings of a preliminary report on the abnormally high temperature reading on the social media platform X. However, no corrected temperature figure for Wednesday was provided.
According to the IMD, the maximum temperature reported by the Mungeshpur weather station “is inaccurate due to sensor malfunction.”
Nevertheless, it seems that the city’s heat record has still been surpassed, as two other weather stations in Delhi recorded temperatures of 49 C (120.2 F) and 49.1 C (120.38 F) on Wednesday, with no sensor errors reported by the IMD.
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The previous highest recorded temperature in New Delhi was 48.4 C (119.12 F) in May 1998, according to the draft IMD report.
India has been experiencing extreme heat for days, leading to the deaths of at least 33 individuals from suspected heatstroke in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha on Friday.
