Delhi-NCR is hurtling towards one of its most punishing days of the year.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that temperatures in the capital are likely to touch nearly 46°C on Wednesday, May 20, and has issued an orange alert, meaning residents should be prepared to act to protect themselves from the heat.
The IMD has confirmed that Delhi, along with Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, is likely to face severe heat during the week, with strong surface winds expected during the afternoon and evening hours.
A lady wipes sweat off her face during an ongoing heatwave in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
TUESDAY’S WARNING
Tuesday was already a sign of things to come. The Safdarjung observatory, considered Delhi’s official weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 45.1°C, around 4.7°C above the seasonal average, the highest recorded so far this year.
Several pockets of the city ran even hotter.
(Photo: IMD)
Ridge station registered 46.5°C, Ayanagar recorded 45.5°C, and Lodhi Road touched 45.2°C.
The heat also thickened the air as Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) climbed to 208 by 4 pm, marking the poorest air quality recorded since April 28. Tuesday also marked the fourth heatwave day of the year for Delhi.
A heatwave in India is officially declared when temperatures cross 45°C, or when they run more than 4.5°C above what is normal for that time and place. Delhi is currently ticking both boxes simultaneously.
Delhi’s suffering is intense, but it is far from alone.
A man rests in front of a cooler during intense heat in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Across the country, a prolonged and punishing pre-monsoon season is making itself felt in very different ways. Here’s what India’s regions are facing.
WESTERN, CENTRAL INDIA FACE EXTREME HEAT
The states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh are bearing the brunt alongside Delhi.
Banda in Uttar Pradesh recorded a staggering 47.6°C on May 19, making it the hottest spot in the entire country that day.
A squirrel lies on the ground during a wave of extreme heat sweeping Northern India. (Photo: PTI)
Heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are expected to persist across West and East Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh through May 25, with nights offering little comfort as minimum temperatures in these regions are running well above normal.
Gujarat, though spared the worst of the heat for now, is expected to see a gradual temperature dip of 2-3°C from May 20 onwards.
MONSOON KNOCKING ON SOUTH INDIA’S DOOR
While northern and central regions are baking, southern parts of India are being lashed by storms and heavy rain.
Kerala is receiving widespread to heavy rainfall almost daily, as the southwest monsoon is slated to arrive ahead of schedule around May 26.
Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district recorded 16 cm of rain in a single day on May 19, while coastal Karnataka, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands are also seeing heavy rainfall with strong squally winds.
An image of a tree that fell during thudersqualls. (Photo: PTI)
Coastal Andhra Pradesh, however, is an outlier in the south, facing both heat wave warnings and thundersqualls with gusting winds up to 70 kmph simultaneously.
NORTHEAST STAYS WET
The northeast is currently seeing scattered to isolated rainfall, but that is about to change significantly.
From around May 22, the IMD expects rainfall to increase sharply across Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram-Tripura cluster, turning widespread through May 25.
Very heavy rainfall warnings have been issued for Arunachal Pradesh and Assam & Meghalaya from May 23 onwards, raising concerns about localised flooding, landslides, and crop damage in hilly and low-lying areas.
Vehicles wade through a waterlogged road following heavy rainfall, in Guwahati, Assam. (Photo: PTI)
Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim are also expected to receive very heavy rainfall from May 22, a reminder that as the monsoon advances, India’s northeastern flank tends to feel it first and hardest.
India’s sheer size means it rarely experiences one season at a time.
On any given day in late May, a farmer in Kerala could be ankle-deep in pre-monsoon rain while a labourer in Uttar Pradesh struggles to breathe in 47°C heat, and a villager in Arunachal Pradesh braces for a landslide warning.
This is simply India. But what climate scientists increasingly warn is that the extremes on both ends are getting sharper. The heat is becoming unforgiving, the rains more sudden and violent.
This May, more than most, that reality is impossible to ignore.
– Ends
Published By:
Devika Bhattacharya
Published On:
May 20, 2026 10:07 IST
