PUNE: Summer this year may be milder in comparison to the scorcher last year. Though the period between April and June 2018 may see above-normal temperatures, the average temperature may still be lower than last year’s.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its seasonal outlook, predicted above normal average seasonal temperatures — maximum, minimum and mean — but added it may not get as hot as last year. An
IMD official said the seasonal April, May and June temperature departures may be lesser than those observed during the same period in 2017.
The “colder-than-last-year” trend may also be experienced in Maharashtra, the outlook said. The average maximum temperature rise may not be that significant — less than 0.5°C above normal — in Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada. The average maximum temperature would be near normal in Vidarbha .
The average minimum temperature is likely to be warmer than normal by 0.5°C and 1°C in Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra, apart from states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand etc. They are likely to be warmer than normal by 1°C or more in Punjab, Haryana, west Uttar Pradesh and east and west Rajasthan.
The outlook said warmer than normal temperatures are expected to prevail in most of the sub-divisions, with highest abnormalities in the sub-divisions in northwest India and north India. However, normal to slightly below-normal maximum temperatures are likely to prevail in sub-divisions of eastern, east-central and southern parts of the country such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka among others. Normal heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in the core heat wave zone including sub-divisions like Marathwada, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra and coastal Andhra, and states such as Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP etc.
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