temperature · India
Delhi
May mean daily maximum
Modelled demonstration series · not observed data
The number matters less than the number of people standing under it. Pre-monsoon heat at this level, in a city this size, is an outdoor-labour problem before it is a weather problem: construction, delivery and street work continue through it because the alternative is no income. Grid load peaks at the same moment the grid is least able to carry it.
75 years, modelled
Same reading, two normals
| Normal | Mean | σ | Pct | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951–1980 | 39.6 °C | +2.60σ | 99.53th | 1 in 210 years |
| 1991–2020 | 39.7 °C | +2.39σ | 99.15th | 1 in 120 years |
Today would rank 2 of 76 for highest value in the modelled series. Nothing about the reading changes between rows — only the yardstick.
The season here
May is the pre-monsoon furnace — the hottest, driest weeks before the rains arrive and break the heat.
Where this series comes from
MODELLED SERIES — not observed. Parameters set from published Safdarjung May climatology (1951–1980 mean daily max near 39.6 °C). The 75 annual values are synthesised by the seeded generator. Population is a rounded urban-agglomeration estimate.
Every number on this page comes from a modelled series: 75 annual values synthesised by a seeded generator from published climatological parameters for Delhi. It shows how anomaly reasoning works. It is not a measurement and must not be cited as one.
How to read σ
σ counts standard deviations from this place's own normal. The sigma guide · return periods.
More temperature stations
Open Delhi on the field →