Get ready for a severe summer this year, indication of which is already being seen in Mumbai which on Tuesday recorded 39 degree Celsius temperature, the third highest in February since 1966.
In February 1966, Mumbai recorded 39.6 degree C and in 2012 it was 39.1 degree Celsius. In 2017 and 2015, the highest temperature was 38.8 degree Celsius in the commercial capital of India.
As the temperature started increasing in coastal areas across the country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an advisory on heatwave, suggesting dos and don’ts. Heatwave is considered when maximum temperature of a station is 40 degree Celsius or more for plains and 30 degree Celsius or less for Hilly regions.
According to IMD, maximum temperature in Mumbai is expected around 38 or 39 degree Celsius in the next two days.
Besides, Palakkad topped the temperature charts in Kerala with a maximum of 37.1 degrees Celsius in February. Kerala, once known for its moderate and comfortable climate where people never had to bother about the extreme weather conditions occurring in other parts of the country, is now bearing the brunt of climate change.
This temperature rise is in line with a trend emerging over the last few years when the south-western-most State, and the gateway of the monsoon, heats up well before others and even setting up heatwaves. February has already seen maximum temperatures going well past the 30 degrees Celsius mark at many places in coastal areas.
According to Dr Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist of IMD, a fresh Western Disturbance expected in the hills around February 19 due to which there may be clouding in Delhi for the next three days. Due to this, temperature in Hilly areas and plain are expected to lower for two-three days. This will also lead to rainfalls in isolated places in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Eastern UP, Eastern Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab is expected to get rainfalls from February 20-22. The wind is also going to change during this period from cool northwesterly to warm southwesterly.”At times one does feel the heat as the day temperature during this period tends to rise by 2-4 degrees Celsius due to warm southwesterly winds taking over cool Northwesterly winds. It usually happens when a Cyclonic Circulation forms in the hot and dry Rajasthan region,” Srivastava added.
As per the advisory issued by the IMD, heat wave occurs mostly over an interior plain area when dry and warmer air is transported in a region with clear skies and hence maximum isolation during the summer season.
“Heatwave impacts rural and urban areas, natural habitats like forests, water resources, poultry and a range of sectors like agriculture, health, power etc, Though there is no universally acceptable or uniform definition for a heatwave, they are understood to be periods of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the pre-monsoon (April to June) summer season. In India heatwaves typically occur between March to June, and in some rare cases even extend till July. Heatwaves are more frequent over the Indo-Gangetic plains of India,” the IMD said.
