An ‘orange alert’ was issued in Delhi and neighboring areas of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh as an ongoing heatwave spell tightened its grip on parts of the national capital on Sunday, with the mercury breaching the 45-degree Celsius mark in six localities.
At the Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s base station, the maximum temperature settled at 44.2 degrees Celsius as against 43.9 degrees Celsius on Saturday and 42.9 degrees Celsius on Friday.
Earlier, the Met Office had issued a “yellow” alert, warning of heatwave conditions at isolated places in Delhi on Monday.
Talking to Hindustan Times, RK Jenamani, senior scientist at IMD warned people against the rising heat.
“Orange alert in Delhi. Severe heatwave from June 4 in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, UP, and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan. Temperature varying between 44°-47°C shall continue for four more days. We advise people to venture out carefully as the heat spell is very severe,” he was quoted saying.
He also said that monsoons in Delhi are still far although heavy rainfall is expected in the northeastern parts.
The mercury jumped to 47.3 degrees, seven notches above normal, at Mungeshpur, making it the hottest place in the capital. Sports Complex, Pitampura, Najafgarh, Jafarpur and Ridge recorded a high of 46.6 degrees Celsius, 46.2 degrees Celsius, 46.3 degrees Celsius, 45.1 degrees Celsius and 45.7 degrees Celsius respectively.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) uses four colour codes for weather warnings — “green” (no action needed), “yellow” (watch and stay updated), “orange” (be prepared) and “red” (take action). Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (climate change and meteorology), Skymet Weather, said Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh may see pre-monsoon activity on and off from June 10. The maximum temperature in the capital may drop to 40-41 degrees Celsius by Saturday.
“The monsoon will cover eastern India by June 15, which will intensify pre-monsoon activity in northwest India,” he said. A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 4.5 notches above normal. A severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal temperature is by more than 6.4 notches, according to the IMD.
Based on the absolute recorded temperatures, a heatwave is declared when an area logs a maximum temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. A severe heatwave is declared if the maximum temperature crosses the 47-degree Celsius mark.
Monsoon ‘Slow’ Over Kerala, Other Parts to Receive Rain
Meanwhile, the southwest monsoon is moving slowly over Kerala after arriving three days early, according to reports citing weather data. Rainfall in the southern state, the monsoon’s first port of call, has been more than 50% below average in the first few days, according to the regional meteorological department in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
On Saturday, some parts of Thiruvananthapuram reached 32 degrees Celsius, which is unusual for this early in the monsoon season. Many areas in Kerala typically receive 6-8 cm of rain in the first few days after the monsoon arrives, but the highest rainfall of 5 cm was recorded on Friday in Mancopmpu, Alappuzha district.
Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of meteorology and climate change at SkyMet Weather Services, a private forecaster told the Hindustan Times that this was expected to continue. “At least for the next one week, there is no forecast of heavy showers,” he said. “In parts of interior Karnataka, we might see some good spells.”
The southwest monsoon has covered the entire north-east with Assam and Meghalaya experiencing heavy rainfall activity in the 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Sunday. The weatherman has forecast an increase in rainfall activity over the southern peninsula from Tuesday onwards.
Fairly widespread light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorm/lightning is very likely over Karnataka, Kerala & Mahe and Lakshadweep and isolated to scattered over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal during next five days, the IMD said.
It said squally weather with wind speed 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph were very likely over the southwest Arabian Sea during the next three days and advised fishermen not to venture into these areas. According to the IMD, rainfall over the country as a whole for the month of May was 83.4 mm, which was 34 per cent more than its Long Period Average (LPA) of 62 mm based on the data of 1961-2010.
During May 2022, rainfall over South Interior Karnataka (232.3 mm) was highest since 1901, the IMD said.
Rajasthan Also Boils
Normal life was affected in parts of Rajasthan due to excessive heat on Sunday, a MeT department spokesperson said. At 46.7 degrees Celsius, Sriganganagar was the hottest place in the state. According to the meteorological department, there is no likely relief from the heat for a few days.
The mercury touched 46.4 degrees Celsius in Dholpur, 45.1 degrees Celsius in Alwar and Sangaria, 45 degrees Celsius in Karauli and Churu, 44.9 degrees Celsius in Pilani, 44.4 degrees Celsius in Kota and 43.7 degrees Celsius in Bikaner. State capital Jaipur recorded a maximum temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius. No significant change in the temperatures is expected in the next 48 hours, a spokesperson of the meteorological department said.
He said the effect of dry westerly winds will continue over most parts of the state during the next one week and the weather will remain dry at most places.
Heatwave Conditions Grip MP, Himachal
Heatwave conditions also prevailed over some parts of Vidarbha and over isolated pockets of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Madhya Pradesh is also witnessing a heatwave, where mercury touched 47 degrees Celsius on Sunday at Nowgong, while at least sixteen towns and cities in central and northwest India recorded temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius and above.
Banda in Uttar Pradesh and Ganganagar in Rajasthan recorded the highest maximum temperature of 46.8 degrees Celsius and 46.7 degrees Celsius respectively.
The weather office said there will be no significant change in the maximum temperatures over most parts of northwest India over the next four to five days. It said there will be no significant change in temperature over Central India over the next two days and the mercury was expected to slide by two to three degrees thereafter.
(with inputs from agencies)
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