NEW DELHI: The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a forecast indicating that India is likely to experience an above-normal number of heatwave days in May, with both maximum and minimum temperatures expected to rise.
The trend of warmer weather has already been observed, with April recording 40% more heatwave days than the historical average.
Normally heat waves prevail over northern plains, central India and adjoining areas of peninsular India for about 3 days in different meteorological stations in May. However, this month, several parts of the country will have an additional 2-8 days of heatwave.
The number of heatwave days is likely to be above normal by about 5-8 days over central India i.e. South Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Marathwada and Gujarat region.
Additionally, the Northwest, Eastern, and Southern regions, including Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, northern interior Karnataka, Telangana, and isolated pockets of northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, may experience 2-4 days of above-normal temperatures.
Furthermore, most parts of the country are expected to see above-normal maximum temperatures, except for certain regions in the northeast, northwest, central India, and parts of the northeast peninsula.
Similarly, above-normal minimum temperatures are anticipated across the nation, except for specific areas in northwest India, the Indo-Gangetic plains, central India, and much of northeast India.
Earlier in April, the Southern Peninsula was one of the driest regions since 1901. This region experienced only 12.6 mm rainfall in April which is the fifth lowest since 1901.
In addition, the Peninsular region was the second hottest month since 1901, the average mean temperature is 31.39° Celsius which is more than the normal mean temperature of 30.16° Celsius.
Furthermore, April reportedly had 118 days of heatwave days against average of 71 days. Most heatwave days were reported from Odisha (18 days) highest in the past nine years, West Bengal (16 days) which was the highest in past 15 years, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Interior Karnataka (10 days), Southern Karnataka (8 days), Tamil Nadu and Sikkim (7days).
Moreover, Odisha got the longest spell of a heatwave in April 2024 during 15-30 April (16 days), after April 2016 when it prevailed during 9- 30 April 2016 (21 days).
A larger number of heatwave days than average is due to scanty rainfall and the persistence of anti-cyclones over Bay of Bengal and adjoining eastern coasts of India. However, no heat waves were reported over north & central India during April 2024 due to back-to-back five Western Disturbances.
