Heatwave intensifies in Northern India, Delhi records hottest day in 18 years

INN/New Delhi@InfodeaOfficial

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), earlier said on May 26, Tuesday, that heatwave conditions will peak due to the prevailing dry winds over northwest India, central India and adjoining interior parts of eastern India.

The weather department added that dust and thunderstorms will reduce temperatures in northern India between May 29 and May 30. 

The heatwaves intensified in most parts of the northern states on Tuesday, with Churu in Rajasthan blazing at 50-degree Celsius and the mercury breaching the 47-degree mark in parts of Delhi.

On May 24, the weather department issued a heatwave alert for Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Odisha for the next five days.

Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of IMD’s Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, on Tuesday, said, “Churu today had the highest maximum temperature at 50-degree Celsius.

In the last 10 years, this is the second time the maximum temperature has surpassed this mark. Earlier on May 18, 2010, a temperature of 50.2-degree Celsius was recorded.”

In Delhi, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded a maximum of 46 degrees Celsius and the city suffocated in the scorching temperature. He also added that the last time the mercury at the Safdarjung weather station touched the 46-degrees-Celsius mark was on May 19, 2002.

According to IMD, a heatwave is considered if the maximum temperature of a place reaches at least 40°C or more for plains, 37°C or more for coastal stations and a minimum of 30°C or more for hilly regions.

For the plains, a heatwave is declared when the actual maximum temperature is 45 degrees Celsius and severe heatwave when it is 47 degrees Celsius or more.

On Tuesday, PTI has reported that the Palam area has recorded 47.6 degree Celsius, six notches above the normal, followed by Aya Nagar, Safdarjung and Lodhi Road.

Bikaner, Ganganagar, Kota and Jaipur recorded maximum temperatures of 47.4 degrees Celsius, 47 degrees Celsius, 46.5 degrees Celsius and 45 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Heat wave conditions continued to be fierce in many places in Uttar Pradesh with Allahabad being the hottest city in the state at 47.1 degrees Celsius.

The temperature is likely to continue for another three to four days over the state. IMD also said that the day temperatures increased to a high extent over Gorakhpur and Faizabad divisions.

The hot weather conditions will continue in isolated pockets over Punjab, Chhattisgarh, interior Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, interior Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand for the next two to three days.

Haryana and Punjab including Chandigarh were severely hot on Tuesday, with Hisar turning out to be the hottest place in the region at 48 degrees Celsius.

The meteorological department mentioned that so far, Hisar in Haryana recorded its hottest day of the current summer season, with the maximum temperature being five notches above the normal.

Haryana’s Narnaul and Karnal recorded 46 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius, respectively. In Punjab, Patiala recorded an increase of 44.7 degrees Celsius and Ludhiana 44.1 degrees Celsius.

In Gujarat, the temperature ranged between 39 degrees Celsius to 43 degrees Celsius, with Ahmedabad recording 43.7 degrees Celsius.

Central Maharashtra and Marathwada regions were under heat waves and the maximum temperature was above normal in most parts of the Konkan region.

Kuldeep also added that heatwaves will start subsiding from May 28 onwards when western disturbance will affect northwest India and easterly winds will prevail in the lower levels.

The western disturbance is a cyclonic storm that originates in the Mediterranean Sea and travels eastwards to enter the Indian subcontinent from the northwest. When it comes in contact with the Himalayas, it brings rainfall over the hills and the plains.

Due to strong southerly wind from Bay of Bengal, heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places in Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh till May 28.

Also, for Assam and Meghalaya, the IMD has issued a red-colour coded (extreme weather conditions) weather alert from May 26 to May 28, predicting heavy rainfall in these two states.