The weather expert said a weak western disturbance may bring scattered rainfall to neighbouring regions but is not expected to cool Delhi.

Delhi’s punishing summer is no longer confined to the daytime. Even nights are offering little relief, with the Capital recording its warmest May night on Thursday in 14 years. From rising hospitalisations and soaring electricity demand to an increase in fire incidents, the prolonged spell of extreme heat is beginning to strain daily life across the capital city.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 31.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, five degrees above normal. The reading marked the season’s first “warm night” and the warmest May night recorded in Delhi since May 27, 2012, when the minimum temperature had touched 34.2°C.

The maximum temperature in Safdarjung stood at 43.6°C, which was 3.4 degrees above normal. Several parts of the city recorded even higher temperatures, with Ridge emerging as the hottest station at 45.3°C as isolated heatwave conditions persisted for the fourth consecutive day.

On Wednesday, northwest Delhi’s Mungeshpur was the hottest location in the city at 46.3°C.

Cooling shelters become refuge
As temperatures remained dangerously high, residents and tourists sought relief at cooling shelters set up across the Capital. The shelters, equipped with air coolers, fans, drinking water and oral rehydration solutions, saw people resting through the day to escape the harsh sun.

Inside one such shelter on Wednesday, officials distributed water mixed with rehydration salts while people sat near coolers to recover from the heat.

“We had come here for outing. But it is too hot here. The cooling system here is good for us,” 25-year-old tourist Basharat Ahmad Malla told news agency AP.

Uptick in heatstroke cases
The rising temperatures are also beginning to reflect in hospitals across the city. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Thursday reported its first two heatstroke cases of the season, with both patients said to be in critical condition.

Hospital officials said a 24-year-old student was brought to the hospital around 1.45 am after falling seriously ill while travelling on a train. Doctors said he had a body temperature exceeding 105°F and was suffering from vomiting, faecal incontinence and altered consciousness.

The second patient, a 55-year-old man, was brought unconscious to the hospital by police at around 10.45 am with a body temperature of 104°F, officials said.