Is Delhi experiencing its warmest February ever?

(Representational image)

New Delhi: Delhi may be experiencing the hottest February this year. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature of the season was recorded at 29 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, February 20, four notches above the season's average.

Both the maximum and minimum temperatures are set to rise over the next two days at least, the IMD added, with the maximum on Wednesday likely to hover around 31 degrees Celsius.

The near respite, according to weather analysts, is likely on February 23 and 24, as Delhi and the neighboring region may see rain showers and thunderstorm then.

The national capital on Tuesday saw a minimum temperature of 10.1 degree Celsius, a notch below the season's average.

"The temperature is expected to rise further for next two to three days," an IMD official told IANS. 

Experts attribute the rise in temperature in Delhi to the cloud cover over northern Rajasthan and Delhi.

Meanwhile, a monthly tally of global temperatures conducted by NASA last year concluded that February 2017 was the second-warmest February in 137 years of modern record-keeping.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York said that last month was 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean February temperature from 1951-1980. The two top February temperature anomalies have occurred during the past two years.

February 2016 was the hottest on record, at 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the February mean temperature, while the temperature in February 2017 was 0.20 degrees Celsius cooler than February 2016.

(With IANS inputs)