Brace Yourself, Most Parts Of India Are Going To Be Really Hot This Summer, Warns IMD

It's time to brace yourself as most of India, barring parts of northwest and peninsular region, is expected to experience above-normal maximum temperatures from April to June, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.

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Parts that will worst-hit

Most areas of central, eastern and northwestern states of the nation are likely to experience heat waves during the three-month summer season, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department, said in New Delhi on Saturday.

"A significantly higher number of heatwave days are predicted over parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana," Mahapatra said in a virtual press conference.

Additionally, the weather bureau said India is expected to see normal rainfall in April. Normal to above normal precipitation is expected over most parts of northwest, central and peninsular region, while below normal rain is predicted in east and northeast India, it said.

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Effects of extreme heat

The scorching summer is likely to put more strain on the power network as people turn to air conditioners to find reprieve from heat waves. Further, climate change is increasing global temperatures and worsening the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

This year, there's been increased focus on India's weather outlook after the subcontinent suffered a punishing heat wave in 2022 that caused widespread human suffering and affected global wheat supplies.

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Unusual rain spells

Notably, Northwest India has seen unusually multiple spells of rainfall this month, with a recent such wet spell on Wednesday. The rain spells over northwest India began nearly two weeks ago and are still continuing. Parts of the region, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, have also recorded hailstorms over the past two weeks, according to the IMD.

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It has to do with western disturbances, which are storms from the Mediterranean region that bring rainfall to northwest India. Multiple western disturbances have been affecting Northwest India this month in contrast to February when no western disturbances affected the plains of the region. The current spell of rainfall has also been brought by a western disturbance that lies as a cyclonic circulation over Afghanistan and the neighbourhood.

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