Southern India is expected to experience below normal day temperatures this summer season, the weather office said in the summer forecast issued on Monday.
However, northern parts of the country are likely to experience warmer than usual temperatures in March, April and May, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Summer nights were expected to be slightly on the warmer side than usual for most parts of the country, except parts of eastern and central India.
“Above normal seasonal minimum (night) temperatures are likely over most of the subdivisions of north India along the foot hills of Himalayas, northeast India, western part of central India and southern part of peninsular India,” the weather office said.
The weather office said moderate La Niña conditions were prevailing over the equatorial Pacific and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are below normal over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
“The latest model forecast indicates that La Niña conditions are likely to sustain during the upcoming hot weather season (March to May),” it added.
La Nina often has an impact on the weather of the Indian subcontinent.
The IMD last month had said the minimum temperature recorded in the country in January was the warmest for the month in 62 years. South India was particularly warm.
The month was the warmest in 121 years, with 22.33 degrees Celsius in south India, followed by 22.14 degrees Celsius in 1919 and 21.93 degrees Celsius in 2020 as the second and third warmest months.
Central India was also the warmest (14.82 degrees Celsius) in the last 38 years after 1982 (14.92 degrees Celsius), while 1958 with 15.06 degrees Celsius was the warmest in the 1901-2021 period.
(Published 02 March 2021, 05:18 IST)
JOIN US