HYDERABAD: With the temperatures soaring day by day, this Ugadi might just end up being the hottest so far.
But can you trust your weatherman? The official webpage of the Hyderabad Meteorological Centre, weather.ap.nic.in, forecasts a maximum temperature of 40 degrees celsius on Friday and Saturday too.
Similarly, the imd.gov.in, website of India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India, predicts the same for Saturday, a maximum of 40 degrees celsius and a minimum of 24.
But a maximum of 39 for Friday.
However, officials in the Met Department assert that the web version is wrong and predict that the mercury will remain below 40 for at least a couple of days more.
“The temperatures will stay around 39.4 in the next couple of days because of a sudden change in the direction of winds leading to a slight fall in the day temperatures,” explained Subba Rao, assistant meteorologist, Hyderabad Meteorological Centre.
This means Ugadi will not witness the heat of 40 degrees celsius.
However, last year, Ugadi arrived in the month of April, which obviously would have been hotter, added the official.
He further said that there could be showers in the last week of this month.
The maximum temperatures in the last week hovered around 39 degrees celsius.
According to the official, the rising temperatures over the last few days, have been mainly because of the lack of moisture flow from sea to land.
The flow of north Delhi winds across the Telangana region and some parts of Rayalaseema, were responsible for the rising temperatures in the region.
Last year, in the month of March, the mercury rose above normal levels on 22nd and 23rd but did not touch 40, Subba Rao explained.
However, in 2009, in the third week of March, the mercury did touch 40 degree celsius, he added.