Fresh spell of heatwave in Delhi and Rajasthan, IMD says no respite till Tuesday

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The Met department has warned of a severe heatwave sweeping across parts of Rajasthan from April 17 to 19 and over Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana on Monday and Tuesday.

A region is said to be experiencing a severe heatwave when its maximum temperature rises above 6 degrees from normal.

The current maximum temperatures recorded over many parts of north and northwest India remained 3 to 5 degrees Celsius above normal for this time of the year. This includes west Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Bihar, Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh, interior parts of Odisha, north Madhya Maharashtra, Kutch and Saurashtra.

“The maximum temperatures over northwest India regions would rise gradually by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius during the next four days and persist thereafter,” the IMD said in its weather bulletin on Friday.

Along with Jammu and Haryana, central India regions, including Madhya Pradesh, will experience the heatwave till April 19, the Met officials said.

Despite 2022 being a La Niña year, the intensity and frequency of heatwaves affecting India are unusual. Normally during La Niña—an abnormal cooling of sea surface temperatures over the equatorial Pacific Ocean—there are lesser heatwaves. On the contrary, El Nino—the abnormal warming of sea surface along equatorial Pacific Ocean—is known to trigger intense heatwaves globally.

“Even though it is a La Niña year, land is being heated up to a substantial level. We must brace for more of such extremes in the coming years,” M Rajeevan, former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, told The Indian Express. 

The earlier spell of heatwave, which lasted nearly 17 days, covered two-thirds of the geographical area of the country, from Jammu to Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

Lasting for five days, Delhi had recently experienced the second-most prolonged spell of heatwaves in April since 2011.

During these days, the day temperatures jumped 7 to 9 degrees above normal. Many places in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, like Alwar, Churu, and Akola, recorded a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius in early April.

Heatwaves are common over central India during March. But this year, north and northwest India also experienced severe hot conditions early in the summer season. Going by the predictions, there is no respite from the heat in store for these regions as of now.