Heat, electricity usage shatter April records

NEW DELHI: A relentless heatwave continued to sweep large swathes of India, with the maximum temperature in Delhi soaring, for the second day running, to 43.5 degrees Celsius (°C) — the highest recorded in the month of April since 2010. With a maximum temperature of 47.4°C, the city of Banda in Uttar Pradesh was the hottest in the country on Friday.

This near-nationwide heatwave continued to break other records as well: India on Friday registered yet another all-time high peak power demand of 207.111 GW — the third time in four days this record has been shattered. With a demand of 201.066 GW, the country had set a new record on Tuesday, which was broken just two days later with Thursday’s demand of 204.653 GW — a day when as much as 10,778 MW of peak demand could not be met due to a continuing coal shortage limiting electricity generation across the country.

The IMD has issued an orange warning for all of northwest India, central India and Jharkhand for Saturday. A yellow warning, meanwhile, is in place for nearly the entire country barring a few pockets till May 3 in view of extreme heat. An orange alert is a warning to administrators to be prepared for imminent heat waves; a yellow alert is to warn them to be watchful.

On Friday, at least 28 weather stations in the country recorded temperatures exceeding 45°C, according to IMD data, as the month’s soaring heat continued to set pace to be one of the hottest April recorded in recent years, especially in the northwestern states. According to IMD’s gridded dataset, four states – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh – are seeing the hottest April 1-April 28 period this year since 1951.