New Delhi: Heat wave to continue for 3 more days

The sweltering heat that grips national capital and vast stretches of north and central India including the hills will continue unabated for the next three days, giving little reprieve to people, weathermen have predicted.

The heatwave condition will occur in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha region in central India for the next 72 hours. The temperature will be more than 5 degrees above normal.

The meteorological scientists, however, did not find anything unusual in the sudden spike of temperature over the last week.

“Heat waves are common in the second half of May and first half of June over Northwest India.Trend for the last three-four days was indicating build up of heat wave. it is likely to continue for next two days with some dip on May 23. Over all hot weather will continue for quite some time,” Ajit Tyagi, former director general of Indian Meteorological Department said.

Delhi on Monday sizzled with temperature touching 46.1 degrees Celsius mark in Palam weather station near the airport. The Safderjung weather station in central Delhi recorded marginally less temperature at 44.6 degrees Celsius.

Over the next 48 hours, the maximum temperature in Delhi will stay at 45 degrees or above while the minimum temperature too will rise by two degrees in the same period. At 47.6 degrees Celsius, Churu recorded the highest temperature in the north.

Punjab and Haryana reeled under the effects of the sweltering heat on Monday. While Hisar was the hottest in Haryana at 46 degrees Celsius, Patiala and Amritsar, each recording a maximum temperature of 45.4 degrees Celsius, were the hottest in Punjab.

Madhya Pradesh was sizzling, the hottest being Khajuraho and Nowgaon, each recording a maximum temperature of 46.7 degrees C on Sunday. In Bhopal, the mercury had risen to 44.8 degrees Celsius — the second highest temperature recorded in a decade.

Temperatures crossed 46 degrees Celsius in western Odisha towns.

The hills were no better. While the mercury soared north to touch 32 degrees in Dharamsala, popular tourist destinations like Shimla, Manali and Srinagar witnessed a maximum temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature remains appreciably above normal in most of the places.

“A marginal temperature drop by one or two degrees may happen around the week-end as a western disturbance may be created around May 24. The western disturbance may bring some cloud and thunderstorms in the hills, which in turn may cool the plains by a bit. But there is nothing unusual with the heatwave,” B P Yadav, head of national weather forecasting centre at the IMD said.

Capital to remain hot entire week  

No respite seems to be in sight for Delhiites from the scorching heat as the meteorological department has forecast the capital to remain under the grip of heat wave for the whole week. “I didn’t feel like stepping out of the house, but had to go to attend language classes,” said Rashmi Sinha, a resident of Sukhdev Vihar in south Delhi.

The minimum temperature settled three notches above average at 29.3 degree Celsius. The humidity wavered between 39 and 19 per cent.

“There will be a clear sky on Tuesday and the maximum temperature will hover around 45 and minimum temperature will be around 30 degrees Celsius respectively,” said the MeT department.