Northwest, central India see hottest April in 122 years
Power cuts in Punjab; no shortage of coal: Odisha; Haryana’s power demand touches all-time high; several regions receive heavy rainfall: IMD
As a result of the continued heatwaves, the maximum temperatures in northwest and central India were the highest for the month of April in the last 122 years, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced on Saturday.
The all India temperatures (maximum and mean) recorded till April 28, 2022, are the fourth highest with 35.05 °Cin last 122 years.
Earlier, March 2022 was the hotest in 122 years for the country, as well as northwest India.
The average maximum temperature was 35.90°C and 37.78°C for northwest and central India, respectively, for April 2022.
The department added that temperatures would continue to be above normal also in May.
“During May, above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the west-central and northwest India, and northern parts of northeast India. Normal to below normal maximum temperatures are likely over the remaining parts of the country,” IMD Director general (Meteorology) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told a media conference.
“Normal to below normal minimum temperatures are likely over the south peninsular India and few pockets of extreme northwest India.” Meanwhile, the rainfall in May averaged over the country is most likely to be above normal (more than 109 per cent of the Long Period Average).
“The normal to above normal rainfall is likely over most parts of India, except some parts of northwest India and some parts of northeast India as well as extreme southeast Peninsula where it is likely to be below normal,” Mohapatra added.
Describing the observed phenomenon in April and forecasting the outlook for May, Mohapatra said: “Even when northwest and central India were reeling under scorching sun, entire northeast India, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and some parts of Karnataka were receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall.” The peninsular India received excess rainfall while the northeast received normal rainfall, however, there were spatial variations and the number of stations that reported heavy, very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall was way higher compared to previous years till 2018.
In April 2022, there were a whopping 131 stations that reported heavy rainfall (64.5 to 115.5mm); 31 stations reported very heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.5mm) while eight stations recorded extremely heavy rainfall (more than 204.5mm), the IMD data showed.
In April 2021, the data showed that there were 49 stations that reported heavy rainfall and just four that reported very heavy rainfall while none reported extremely heavy rainfall. In April 2020, there were 112 stations that received heavy rainfall and 13 that received very heavy rainfall.
Punjab is facing acute power outage with its thermal plants heading to either facing deficiency of coal or hiting by a snag owing to increase in load capacity, state officials said on Saturday.
Officials say since most of the plants have been let with fossil fuel storage, they are operating at a minimal capacity.
As a result, against the combined installed capacity of 5,680 MW at the five thermal plants, only 3,327 MW power is being generated.
With the demand peaking to over 7,500 MW, the Punjab State Power Corp Ltd is let with no option but to resort to unscheduled long power cuts, both in rural and urban areas.
Amid power supply crisis in several states due to coal shortage, the Odisha government on Saturday said there is no shortage of coal at any power plant in the state.
Speaking to reporters here, Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra said there is no coal crisis in Odisha like other states where power supply is being cut down for 10 to 12 hours per day due to its shortage.
“We have coal mines in the state. I have instructed Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) to ensure supply of adequate quantity of coal to all power plants in the state,” he said.
Amid a heatwave spell, the peak power demand in Haryana touched an all-time high with additional requirement of 3,000 MW electricity.
The BJP government claims necessary arrangements are being made to overcome the shortage.