As heat waves continue to smother country, IMD predicts respite after 2 days in parts of North India: As a severe heatwave continues to smother two-thirds of India, the situation is likely to improve in the next two days with rain and thunderstorms expected in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, predicted Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). While the mercury breached the 45 degree Celsius marks in cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Kota, Hyderabad, and Lucknow, the hill stations, too, were seen affected scorching sun and blistering heat wave conditions. While the maximum temperature in Shimla was recorded at 32 degrees Celcius on Sunday, Nanital recorded temperatures two to four degrees above normal.
The IMD data noted that the number of hot days in hill stations has increased over the last two decades. The heatwaves also gripped the southern parts of the country as temperatures in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana recorded the temperature at 44 degrees Celcius.
The El Dorado Weather website informed that after Jacobabad in Pakistan, Rajasthan’s Churu and Sri Ganganagar were the hottest places in the world with temperatures up to 48.9 and 48.6 degrees Celcius.
The national capital recorded its hottest day of the season on Friday as the mercury shot up to 47 degrees Celcius in some areas. The minimum temperature, on the other hand, was recorded at 28.4 degrees Celcius. The data has shown that extreme heat conditions have killed over 6000 people in India between 2010 and 2018.
The weather conditions have also resulted in severe water and farm crisis in Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand. The water levels in most of the dams in the two places were less than 10% of their normal capacity. It has been the lowest water levels recorded in the last 10 years, noted the Central Water Commission.
Apart from that, 2018 was the warmest in India since 1901 and 2019 is surely looking forward to breaking the record. The year could be warmer than in 2018 if the monsoon rainfall does not happen as predicted.
