Heatwave about to end, except in Rajasthan and Kerala: IMD
Heat wave conditions are about to end across the country except in Kerala and Rajasthan, according to the weather department.
“Heatwave is about to end across the country. Only in West Rajasthan and Kerala heatwave alert has been issued. Tomorrow (Friday), the heatwave will only be present in West Rajasthan. We have issued it with a yellow alert because we don’t have a lot of hope for the impact,” news agency ANI quoted IMD scientist Soma Sen as saying.
Maximum temperatures in Rajasthan hovered in the range of 43–46 degrees Celsius with Barmer recording the highest temperature of 46 degrees Celsius, followed by Ganganagar (45.2 degrees C), Jaisalmer (45.2 degrees C) and Jodhpur (45 degrees C), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin issued on Thursday.
The weather department had earlier indicated that temperatures would continue to increase over the next two days—particularly in the Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Bharatpur divisions. Temperatures in various districts have already crossed the 44°C mark.
The IMD scientist also said that thunderstorm activity in the country was set to increase as “strong moisture flow came to the country from the Bay of Bengal”. The forecast broached the possibility of “cloud-to-ground lightning in these thunderstorms”.
The country, especially the eastern and southern regions, has been bearing the brunt of a severe heat waves since the middle of April.
In contrast, wet spells accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds are likely over central, east and south peninsular India until Sunday.
IMD does not see any significant change in maximum temperatures over Northwest India for the next two days and fall by about 2–3 degrees C thereafter.
According to a new report, as many as 27 large cities across India experienced “heat stress”—a situation when the heat index exceeds 41 degrees Celsius—to varying degrees in April.
The heat index is a new metric launched last year by IMD to measure the “apparent” temperature based on a location’s temperature as well as humidity.
Temperatures exceeding 41 degrees are classified in the “danger” category, according to Respirer Living Sciences, a start-up that works in the field of data sciences and technology research for living environments, that released the report.