Hot in Mumbai? Well, scorcher of summer ahead WEATHER-WATCH Met department forecasts gloomy picture countrywide

If you thought that 39 degrees Celsius was enough, prepare for a scorcher of a summer. On Monday, the mercury soared to nearly 40 degrees in parts of Mumbai and its suburbs, with Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warning that temperatures this summer could rise to abnormal levels in different parts of the country.

In Mumbai and many parts of Maharashtra the rise in temperature was sudden, increasing the discomfort level. “I suffered a heat stroke. It becomes difficult for us to travel in buses and crowded trains,” said Arati Mahimane, a resident of Thane, where the mercury shot up to 43 degrees on Tuesday.

The IMD also had a reassuring word from Mumbaikar. The sea breeze that has started blowing will cause temperatures to drop marginally. “Mumbaikars could get some respite over the next few days as the winds will turn its direction from north-westerly to northeasterly," said V K Rajeev, director of IMD. Met officials said the north-westerly winds blowing from Kutch and Rajasthan caused the temperatures to rise.

But that’s just a temporary respite and the scenario country-wide is quite gloomy. The IMD said that along with state governments it is making efforts to ensure last-mile connectivity for dissemination of information on heatwave, the death toll due to which stood at 700 last year.

The Met department has already predicted an “above normal” summer this year with occurrence of heatwave at several places. IMD Director-General K.G. Ramesh said the weather department would release heatwave forecast every Thursday for April, May and June. “We recently had a meeting with states and advised them to take necessary steps so that lives are not lost due to heatwave,” he said.

Northwest India, including several parts of Gangetic plains, coastal Andhra and Odisha are known to be core heatwave zones. Nearly 1,600 people lost their lives in 2015 and 700 in 2016, with the majority of cases coming from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Ramesh said Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have taken various steps to avoid casualties due to heatwave conditions. “We have set a target to minimise the number of deaths due to heatwave to a two-digit figure. Dissemination of information is very important as we can only collect data, but action is taken by the local government”.