Hottest across globe, this April wasn’t harsh in India
nNEWDELHI: Globally, this April was the second hottest on record in 141 years of record keeping by National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But India was among the few spots in the world which recorded below average temperature in April. Parts of North America also recorded an unusually cold April.
April 2016 was the hottest April on record. Scientists in India are trying to ascertain what could be causing such mild weather through the summer months -and even in mid-may. Kota in Rajasthan and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest temperature on Wednesday at 41.6 degrees C, which is 3 to 4 degrees C lower than normal, according to the India Meteorogical department (IMD) scientists.
April 2020 marked the 44th consecutive April and the 424th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average, but the average April temperature in north and central India was 1 to 2 degrees below average, according to NOAA .
The warmest April temperatures were recorded across northern Asia or the Siberian region where temperatures were 4 degrees C above average or higher. Other warm areas include western Australia, central Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, the Labrador and Bering seas, parts of the northern and southern Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica. Temperatures of 2 degrees C below average were recorded across Canada and parts of US.
The average temperatures in January-april in India was average to lower than average, according to NOAA. “The atmospheric dynamics are not conducive in India for temperatures to pick up. Local factors are not enough for temperatures to rise. Large scale atmospheric dynamics also affect [temperatures]. We have had a very high western disturbance activity this year, which has caused clouding on many days and has reduced solar radiation. There has been cold air incursion from the north...,” said M Rajeevan Nair, secretary, ministry of earth sciences. North Atlantic Oscillation is a fluctuation of atmospheric pressure over the North Atlantic Ocean that has a strong effect on winter weather in Europe, Greenland, northeastern North America, North Africa, and northern Asia.
Between March 1 and May 13, the pre-monsoon season, central India received 157% excess rains; northwest India received 39% excess rains; and the country as whole received 19% excess rains.
“We had relatively cold January and February and mild weather in March and April but this could be linked to climate variability,” said Krishna Achutarao, Professor, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at IIT Delhi.