Met dept warns of harsh summer in northwest

Above-normal temperatures likely to prevail all over

Brace for a harsh summer, particularly those living in north-west India, the weathermen have cautioned.

While “above-­normal” temperatures (increase up to one degree Celsius) are likely to prevail all over the country, the increase would be by more than one degrees in north-west India, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.

Heat wave conditions are likely over the core heat wave zone like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana.

Heat waves are also likely to prevail in the meteorological subdivisions of Marathwada, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Meteorological Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The met agency declared heat wave if the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius or more for the plains and at least 30 degrees Celsius or more in the hilly regions.

There are two ways to determine the heatwave conditions. First, if the temperature departure from normal is between 4.5-6.4 degrees Celsius, then it’s heat wave. If the temperature goes beyond the 6.4 degrees limit, it is severe heat wave.

Second, if the maximum temperature is beyond 45 degrees, then too it’s heat wave in the IMD parlance. In 2016, India’s average annual mean temperature was the warmest (0.91 degree Celsius above the 1961-1990 average) ever on record since 1901. This was in line with the warmest ever annual global mean temperatures observed in 2016.

The trend continued in January, which was the eighth warmest January since 1901. The average temperature in January  2017 was 0.67 degree more than the normal mean temperature.

The season’s average maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by more than one degree Celsius in most of the subdivisions from north, north-west India. The minimum temperature too would be on the higher side.

The average mean temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by more than or equal to one degree Celsius in most of the subdivisions from north, northwest India and along the plains of Himalayas; by less than 0.5 degree Celsius in south interior Karnataka, and between 0.5-1 degree Celsius in other parts of the country.