Mercury may fall below 40 degrees Celsius after April 22 in Bihar: Met

PATNA: The mercury mayhem is likely to continue till April 21. The weathermen are expecting temperature to drop in the region from April 22 owing to thunderstorm activities in north India.
But the prevailing scorching heat conditions in the state intensified on Monday as Patna Meteorological Centre declared severe heatwave in Motihari, Khagaria and Banka and heatwave at Patna and Bhagalpur among 11 places in Bihar.
"We are expecting peak heatwave conditions in Bihar till April 19. The temperature is, however, expected to drop below 40 degrees C after April 21 as thunderstorm activities are likely to occur in north India," Ashish Kumar Singh, scientist at Patna centre, told TOI.
While temperature drop is expected from April 22 onwards, the scorching sunrays will continue till then as the Patna centre has issued orange-coloured warning in several districts, including Patna, Banka, Jamui, Nawada and Supaul over the next three days. Singh said it has been done as per the government guidelines. "When the heatwave conditions persist for more than two days, it is stipulated to increase the warning level," he said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday expected the maximum temperature markedly above normal (5.1 degrees C or above) at a few places in Bihar. The maximum temperature at all three automatic weather stations (AWS) in Patna was recorded above 43 degrees C, with the corresponding readings at airport and Bypass road recorded at 44.8 and 44.1 degrees C, respectively.
Kumar Gaurav, an official at Patna Met office, said maximum temperature is likely to surge by one to four notches in many parts of the state over the next 3-4 days. As per the daily weather bulletin, the maximum temperature is likely to be in the range of 42-44 degrees C at majority of places in the state till April 21.
The northward movement in the mercury column is further getting aggravated with hot westerly winds, called 'looh' in common parlance. As per the AWS data, westerly winds gusted up to 33kmph during the daytime, while it was blowing 5.4kmph at 8:30pm.
"Westerly and north-westerly winds are likely to blow at an average speed of 10-20kmph, gusting up to 30kmph over the next three to four days," Gaurav said.
The Met office has also issued yellow-coloured warning for northeast and south Bihar on Tuesday, north-west and southern parts of the state on Wednesday and south-central and south-eastern parts on Thursday. It stipulates that authorities should be watchful for extreme weather condition.
India Meteorological Department, in a special bulletin on Monday, stated that heatwave conditions are likely to continue over east India, including Bihar, during the next four days. It further stated that heatwave conditions are prevailing in isolated pockets in Bihar from the last three days.