Here's why spring skipped North India this year

Below normal seasonal maximum temperatures are likely over most of the subdivisions of south peninsula and adjoining central India, IMD's summer forecast added

Much of North India is witnessing a rise in temperature that is unusual at this time of the year. The nation's upper half has missed out on the pleasant spring season and the reason behind this, an IMD official said, is the absence of westerly winds.

Westerly winds or westerlies are winds that originate from the west and blow eastwards. These winds are also responsible for the rain that some parts of North India witness during the winter.

It is the northwesterly wind that is behind the pleasant springtime weather before the onset of summer, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) head of regional weather forecasting centre.

Read | Above normal summer temperatures likely across country except South, central India: IMD

Srivastava told DNA that the number of western disturbances impacting the northern plains had drastically reduced this year.

The northern plains witnessed just one western disturbance each in January and February as opposed to the usual count of six. The remaining disturbances impacted just the upper reaches of the western Himalayas.

The IMD, in its summer forecast for March to May, had hinted at above maximum temperatures in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, coastal Maharashtra, Goa and coastal Andhra Pradesh as well.

"Below normal seasonal maximum temperatures are likely over most of the subdivisions of south peninsula and adjoining central India," the summer forecast added.

(With inputs from PTI)