Heatwave To Hit Delhi, Parts of Central and Northwest India: IMD
New Delhi: A heatwave will hit parts of central and northwest India including Delhi, as per a press release by the India Meteorological Department on May 17.
The IMD announced that both daytime and night temperatures were “markedly above normal” – that’s more than 5.1 Degrees Celsius above normal – in many regions on May 16, including in parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.
Heatwave conditions - which can also turn into a “severe heatwave” in parts of Uttar Pradesh - will prevail till May 23 in some parts of these regions.
Another heatwave over India
On May 17, the IMD announced that heatwave conditions would occur over some pockets of Rajasthan from May 17- 23, and over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi from May 18 to 23. Maximum temperatures in Delhi are predicted to hit 45 Degrees Celsius on May 18, 19 and 20.
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region will witness a heatwave till May 21, and Chhattisgarh on May 20 and 21. In Telangana, the heatwave will hold sway from May 17 to 23, and western Rajasthan will witness warm nights on May 17 and 18.
Uttar Pradesh will also witness heatwave conditions till May 23, and this could aggravate into a “severe” heatwave in some isolated pockets of the state from May 19 to 23.
A heatwave is said to occur over a region if the maximum temperature goes above 45°Celsius, or when temperatures increase from between 4.5-6.4°Celsius above normal. A severe heatwave is said to occur when maximum temperatures exceed 47°Celsius, or rises above normal levels by 6.4°Celsius and higher.
Parts of India already witnessed a heatwave in mid-April, as The Wire reported. It struck at around April 13 in some parts of the country, and the IMD had announced alerts till around April 29 in several states. There were also reports of the first heat-related deaths during this time, with two school teachers dying in Odisha due to sunstroke while they were conducting Census-related work on April 24 and 25 and at least four people dying in the first phase of voting for the assembly elections in West Bengal on April 23.
A marked increase in temperatures
As of May 16, maximum temperatures ranged between 40-45°Celsius in most parts of central India, the adjoining north Peninsular India, and in many parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The highest maximum temperature on May 16 was 46.0°C, at Amraoti and Wardha in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
Maximum temperatures were “markedly above normal” (more than 5.1°C higher than usual) on May 16 in parts of eastern Madhya Pradesh, and isolated pockets of western Uttar Pradesh, eastern Rajasthan and western Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, temperatures were “appreciably above normal” (3.1°C to 5.0°C) in some parts of Gujarat, Gangetic West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra and Vidarbha.
Temperatures were “above normal” (between 1.6-3.0°C higher than usual) at numerous other parts of the country including Marathwada in Maharashtra, Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat and parts of north interior Karnataka, some spots in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Odisha, Bihar, Uttarakhand, western Rajasthan, Goa, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
They were “markedly above normal” in parts of eastern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, and “appreciably above normal” in parts of western Rajasthan and central Maharashtra, isolated parts of Odisha, Marathwada, Vidarbha and Tamil Nadu.
This article went live on May seventeenth, two thousand twenty six, at four minutes past five in the evening.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
