Hot Maha set to chill by April 2

Soaring temperatures claim 4 lives this week; weather dept says heat wave conditions are subsiding

The heat wave that shattered temperature records across Maharashtra may subside by Sunday, the weather bureau has said. In four days, the recordbreaking day temperatures have claimed four lives.

The weather department said the heat wave had already started subsiding across central Maharashtra and mercury levels could drop in the coming week. Saturday’s heat wave warning was issued only for Vidarbha.

“The heat wave is likely to leave central Maharashtra. We expect it to completely die down at Vidarbha too by Sunday. The weather system that is inducing the heat wave — an anti-cyclonic circulation — is moving eastwards, towards central India,” said Sunita Devi, director, weather central, India Meteorological Department (IMD). She said Marathwada and surrounding areas could even expect rainfall by Sunday. “We have issued a thunderstorm warning for Satara, Sangli and Belgaum.. Satara reported light rainfall on Friday,” Devi said.

Last week, an anti-cyclonic circulation over Maharashtra and Gujarat pushed warm, northwesterly winds to cause the heat wave. On Friday, Akola was the warmest in the state, at 43.6 degrees Celsius, followed by Wardha (43.6 degrees Celsius) Chandrapur (43.2 degrees Celsius) and Nagpur (43.1° ).

Some locations in central Maharashtra saw day temperatures fall. Jalgaon recorded 42.6 degrees Celsius, compared to 43°C on Thursday; Aurangabad recorded 40.2 degrees Celsius (41.4 °C on Thursday) and Nashik recorded 39.7 degrees Celsius (40.7 °C on Thursday. Climate scientists have asked farmers to protect livestock. “In affected areas, cattle grazing should be done only in the evening or early in the morning. We have asked farmers to rehydrate themselves and avoid going to their farms between noon and 4pm,” said Nabansu Chattopadhyay, deputy director general, agriculture meteorology division, IMD.