NEW DELHI: As the monsoon withdraws from most parts of Northwest India, the intrusion of dry air from the northwest has led to hot and humid conditions in the region.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has reported that night temperatures are expected to rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius above normal in Northwest India over the next five days. This is said to benefit the kharif crops.
According to IMD, when maximum temperatures are 3 degrees Celsius above normal, combined with above-normal relative humidity, the weather is classified as hot and humid. However, scientists predict that temperatures will drop after October 5 due to the arrival of a fresh patch of western disturbances, which will bring mild cool winds and rainfall to the plains of North India.
Currently, the line marking the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon passes through Veraval, Bharuch, Ujjain, Jhansi, and Shahjahanpur.
In Delhi, the maximum and minimum temperatures over the past 24 hours ranged from approximately 35 to 38 degrees Celsius and 24 to 28 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The minimum temperature was above normal by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature exceeded normal by 1 to 3 degrees Celsius.
The IMD has also issued a flash flood alert for Saurashtra and Kutch due to a well-marked low-pressure area over the Gulf of Cambay. The districts likely to be affected by flash floods include Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Jamnagar, Junagarh, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, and Morbi.
Low-lying areas in these regions may be inundated due to extreme rainfall, with isolated places in Konkan and Gujarat expecting more than 210 mm of rain.
The IMD has also advised fishermen not to venture into the Arabian Sea along the Konkan coast off Goa for the next four days, until October 4.
In its agricultural advisory, the IMD has recommended that farmers take necessary measures to drain excess water from fields of rice, sugarcane, cotton, pigeon pea, groundnut, maize, pearl millet, castor, as well as vegetable and fruit orchards in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
Additionally, it has advised providing mechanical support to horticultural crops and staking or supporting vegetables and young fruit-bearing plants to prevent lodging due to strong winds.
Moreover, an increase in rainfall activity is expected, with isolated heavy rainfall likely over East India starting from October 2. In the Southern Peninsula, light to moderate rainfall, along with isolated heavy rainfall, is predicted for Tamil Nadu until October 2.