The IMD has forecasted a warmer start to the summer this year in parts of the country with more heatwave days predicted in various parts of southern India.
India Weather Update: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted a warmer start to the summer this year in parts of the country with more heatwave days predicted in various parts of southern India. Addressing a presser on Friday, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said a warmer start to this year’s summer season is likely with El Nino conditions predicted to continue through the season.
“India is likely to see above-normal maximum and minimum temperatures in most parts of the country in the March to May period,” Mohapatra said, adding that more heatwave days than normal are predicted over northeast peninsular India — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and north interior Karnataka — and many parts of Maharashtra and Odisha.
However, heatwave conditions are not expected over north and central India in March.
The national weather agency also said that the El Nino conditions are likely to trigger above-normal rainfall across the country in March (more than 117 per cent of the long-period average of 29.9 mm).
Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May.
Mohapatra said that the prevailing El Nino conditions — the periodic warming of waters in the central Pacific Ocean — will continue through the summer season and neutral conditions are likely to develop thereafter.
La Nina conditions — generally associated with good monsoon rainfall in India — are likely to set in by the second half of the monsoon season.
Mercury dips in Delhi
Meanwhile, in related news, minimum temperature dipped in Delhi on Friday as the mercury settled at a low of 10.8 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average. As per the IMD, the humidity level in the national capital was recorded at 96 percent even as the weather agency has predicted partly cloudy skies and very light rain during the day.
AQI ‘moderate’
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the ‘moderate’ category at 180 at 9 am, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
(With PTI inputs)
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