Above normal temperatures, intense, long heatwave spells this summer: IMD

February saw warmer nights in north and north west India regions. Such higher-than-normal temperatures also kept fog conditions over the Indo-Gangetic plains at bay.

Early heatwave conditions emerged over parts of Konkan, coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala, where maximum temperatures remained 4 – 8 degrees Celsius above normal. Earlier this week, Kannur in Kerala recorded a maximum temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius and Mumbai touched 38 degrees Celsius.

Going forward, there is little respite on the cards from hot conditions during the next three months. The Met department, in its summer season forecast released on Friday, said both the maximum and minimum temperatures over most parts of the country will remain above normal. Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, plains of UP, Rajasthan, central MP, Chhattisgarh, coastal, northern and eastern Maharashtra, Goa and coastal Karnataka will experience warmer days during March – May.

The IMD further said that warm night conditions would prevail during the next three months over Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, eastern UP and Bihar, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland.  Heatwave spells lasting 12 – 15 days will prevail over  Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, MP, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Telangana, parts of northern Andhra Pradesh and northern Karnataka.  “The number of heatwave events will be above climatological normal,” said senior IMD official D S Pai.