NEW DELHI: The month of March this year felt hotter than ever and the weather office has confirmed that it indeed was. India recorded its warmest March in nearly one and a quarter century, with large swathes of the country scorched by a heat wave in the month.
The average maximum temperature of 33.10 degrees Celsius recorded in March 2022 is the highest ever in last 122 years, according a statement on Saturday by the India Meteorological Department. In March 2010, the country had recorded a maximum temperature of 33.09 degrees Celsius.
The IMD said the average maximum, minimum and mean temperatures for the country as a whole last month were 33.10 degrees C, 20.24 degrees C and 26.67 degrees C respectively, against the normal of 31.24 degrees C, 18.87 degrees C and 25.06 degrees C, respectively, based on the period 1981-2010. The country’s average mean temperature of 26.67 degrees C in March was the second highest after 26.671 degrees C recorded in March 2010.
The weather office attributed the unusually hot month to the absence of active western disturbance over north India and of any major easterly system over south India, causing subdued rainfall and very less thunderstorm activities over most parts of the country.
The rainfall recorded last month in the country as a whole was 8.9 mm, which was 71 per cent less than its long period average rainfall of 30.4 mm.
The countrywide average minimum temperature of 20.24 degrees Celsius in March this year was the third highest in 122 years.