IMD warns of extreme temperatures this summer

01 Mar 2017

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The Meteorological department has predicted temperatures to go higher than normal this summer with heat wave conditions intensifying in the next few months.

Northwest India will be the worst-affected, with average temperatures expected to be 1 degree Celsius above normal between March and May, the Met said in its seasonal forecast, adding that the rest of the country will also experience a warmer summer.

Heat wave conditions are likely to impact Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana and parts of Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh, according to Met.

The weather department also reported that 2016 was the warmest year on record in India since 1901, with temperatures hovering almost 1 degree Celsius above the 1961-90 mean. The trend continued into the new year as temperatures rose 0.67 degrees Celsius above normal in January.

The data is consistent with the rise of global mean temperatures, according to Met.

Starting this summer, IMD said it will be releasing extended forecasts and five-day averaged forecasts for the next 15 days of heat wave conditions.

In 2016, temperatures spiked to new national highs in parts of India even as the Earth sweltered under the hottest temperatures in modern times for the third year in a row.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in the national capital rose to settle at 32.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, making it the hottest February day in the past one decade.

"The maximum temperature was pegged at 32.5 degrees, seven notches above the season's average, which is the hottest February day witnessed since 2007," a MeT department official said.

Notably, on February 20 this year, Delhi had registered a maximum temperature of 32.4 degrees.

However, the minimum temperature settled at 12.5 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, the official said.

Cooler Mahabaleshwar recorded hottest February day temperature in eight years with maximum temperature of 32 degree Celsius on Tuesday.

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