For north India, winter turns to summer in weeks

NEW DELHI: After a winter that seemed it would never end, summer is here in Delhi with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting that maximum temperatures will cross 35 degrees over the next week. It could get hotter and touch 40 degrees by early April, the earliest it has done so in at least the past three years.

A two to three degrees Celsius rise in maximum temperature over the next three to four days will raise the maximum temperature to about 35 degrees and wrap up spring in March, said an IMD forecast. Heat waves are also predicted in parts of northern and central India in April because of borderline El Nino conditions which may worsen the heat.

The term El Nino refers to large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and eastcentral Equatorial Pacific. “Currently, near-borderline El Nino conditions are prevailing over equatorial Pacific Ocean. The global forecasts indicate that near-borderline El Nino conditions are likely to persist during the March, April and May season and weaken thereafter,” said M Mohapatra, director general of meteorology at IMD.

“Some global studies suggest that the number of heat wave days is higher than normal in India during some El Nino years. If El Nino conditions are borderline this year, there may be a marginal impact on heat wave days. Heat waves also depend on many local and global factors like weakening or strengthening of westerlies, geology of the region...,” Mohapatra added.

The transition to summer seems quick this time mainly because of the frequency and intensity of western disturbances (storms originating in the Mediterranean region) that prolonged the feel of winter. There were more than 18 such this winter, well into March compared to the normal five or six.