Above average temperatures, heat waves till June, warns Met

With above average temperatures already being felt in several regions across the country, the weather department on Monday predicted one to three degrees' rise in temperature this year.

Warning of heat waves across several regions, especially Rajasthan, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) last week said it had already recorded heat waves in some parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, western Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

According to the IMD, the core heat wave regions for April, May and June will be Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Telangana and the meteorological subdivisions of Marathwada, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

"The temperature recorded on Monday showed a rise of 1 to 3 degrees Celsius in most parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and northeastern states, in some parts of Rajasthan, and in one or two pockets of east Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Konkan (Karnataka) and Goa and Marathwada (Maharashtra)," the weather department said.

In the past 24 hours to Monday evening, maximum temperatures were recorded at least 10 notches above the season's average at Srinagar in J&K, Manali in Himachal Pradesh, several regions of western Rajasthan and isolated parts of Gujarat, Nagaland, Assam and Arunchal Pradesh.

However, the IMD has predicted respite from heat wave conditions, especially in Rajasthan, from April 5.

"There is a possibility of rise in relative humidity over northwest India from April 5, 2018; as a result, heat wave would abate over west Rajasthan," it said.

The IMD said that warmer than average temperatures are expected to prevail in most of the subdivisions with maximum anomalies in subdivisions from northwest India and north India.

However, average to slightly below-average maximum temperatures are likely in the country's eastern, east central and southern subdivisions.

The IMD had in February warned that the pre-monsoon months this year -- March, April and May -- will be warmer than normal and the heat wave will hit 16 states, apart from Delhi, due to various reasons.

According to it, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh will be warmer by at least one degree Celsius, for April, May and June or pre-monsoon.

Uttarakhand, west Uttar Pradesh and east and west Rajasthan are likely to be warmer by 0.5 to 1 degree.

"Remaining subdivisions are likely to experience near-normal maximum temperature anomalies," the Met Department had said.

In all, there are 36 meteorological sub-divisions in India.

--IANS

kd/nir/vm