This October has now been recorded as the warmest one in 73 years, The Indian Express reported.
The monthly average temperatures recorded at Safdarjung were a maximum of 35.1 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 21.2 degrees Celsius. This marks the fourth highest average daytime temperature and the sixth highest average nighttime temperature for October since records began in 1901.
According to IMD records dating back to 1901, the highest average daytime temperature for October was recorded in 1951, reaching 36.2 degrees Celsius. The highest average nighttime temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius was recorded in both 1915 and 1951.
Other notably warm years included 1907, when the average maximum temperature reached 35.5 degrees Celsius. In 1930 and 1938, the average maximum temperature was recorded at 35 degrees Celsius. In 1941, a record-breaking average maximum of 35.8 degrees Celsius was reported. This record was surpassed just a decade later in 1951, when the monthly maximum temperature climbed to 36.2 degrees Celsius.
The nights in 1951 were notably warm, with a monthly minimum temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius recorded in October, the highest from 1901 to 2024. A similar nighttime temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius was also observed in October 1915.
The only other years with monthly minimum temperatures approaching this were 1927 and 1928, which recorded 21.5 degrees Celsius and 22.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.