There seems to be no respite from the blistering heatwaves this summer. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has extended the heatwave warnings over Northwest India till June 18 as temperatures continue to remain unusually high. The mercury has been hovering at least 4-5℃ above-normal as rains elude the region.
The temperatures have shot up again since June 8 and are now settling around 45-47°C over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh as well as Jharkhand and Rajasthan. This is the second spell of heatwave this June, after the first spell that started around May 17 ended around June 5.
The national capital recorded its highest temperature of 46.4℃ at Ayanagar observatory on Thursday – at least 5-6 notches above-normal. The night-time temperatures are also surging past normal values worsening the heat-stress.
NO RESPITE TILL JUNE 18 AT LEAST
The weather department has now warned that the current spell of heatwaves is likely to continue till June 18, and is expected to get severe in a few places especially on June 16 and 17. This time, not just Northwest plains, but parts of Bihar, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, as well as hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are expected to be affected.
Unlike the plains, where a heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature of a station crosses 40℃, the threshold is set at 30°C for the Hilly region, and 37℃ for coastal stations. The IMD declares a heatwave over a station when the mercury surges past 45℃ for two days or more, or when the maximum temperature during the day has crossed 40℃ and is 4.5℃ to 6.5℃ above-normal for two or more days in a subdivision. But if it is more than 6.5℃, a severe heatwave is declared.
ALMOST ALL STATES HIT BY HEATWAVES THIS SUMMER
As global warming continues to spike temperatures worldwide, studies have warned that 70 per cent of the country could be impacted by heatwaves which have become silent killers. This summer, heatwaves have swept almost all the states/UTs from Jammu and Kashmir up north to Kerala in the south, barring the North-east region with fatalities being recorded from several states. Many heatwave-related deaths also tend to go unreported.
Odisha has been the worst-impacted, bearing the brunt of heatwaves for nearly 27 days starting March 1 till date, while it was 21 for West Bengal and 23 for Rajasthan. The heatwaves swept Haryana, Delhi and West Uttar Pradesh for over 20 days each, when the first spell began around May 17.
The conditions lasted for nearly 15 days in North interior Karnataka, Rayalseema and Gujarat, Bihar, Tamil Nadu. The hill states of Himachal Pradesh also bore the brunt, with heatwaves continuing for almost 12 days across the state.
Comments
0 comment