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New Delhi: The month of February has not passed yet. Winter is still withdrawing from most of the North Indian states. India could skip the spring season entirely and enter directly into summer, as the maximum temperatures in seven states have surpassed those usually recorded in mid-March. The forecast made by the Meteorological Department is worrying. Now IMD says that in February itself, some areas of the country have been warned of heatwave. The IMD has issued a heatwave warning for the next two days in the Kutch and Konkan regions of Gujarat. At the same time, the minimum and maximum temperatures are already above normal in most parts of India.
In its latest updates, the IMD has said that the maximum temperature is likely to remain between 37-39 degree Celsius in many parts of Gujarat during the next 24 hours. This situation will continue for the next three days. Thereafter, the maximum temperature may drop gradually by 2-3°C. Whereas, there is likely to be no significant change in the maximum temperature over the rest of the country during the next 5 days.
The Konkan region is situated in the western coastal area of India, stretching from Maharashtra to Goa. The Kutch region is located in the state of Gujarat in western India, bordering Pakistan.
The IMD in its forecast said, “The rise in temperature over northwest India generally occurs when the weather is dry. That is why heat wave conditions are likely to prevail at isolated places over the west coast i.e. Gujarat. Except for the Himalayas, a heatwave warning has been issued for the next two days in Konkan and Kutch.
At the same time, the minimum temperature in Delhi is already being recorded 10 degrees above normal. Shimla recorded the highest ever minimum temperature of 14.4 degree Celsius. “Generally when the weather is dry, one can expect the temperature to go above normal,” said the IMD meteorologist.
The weatherman has forecast partly cloudy sky for the day with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 32 degrees Celsius. On Sunday, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees Celsius, seven notches above the season’s average and the highest in the month in two years, the India Meteorological Department said.
Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, stood in the ‘very poor’ category as the air quality index (AQI) read 343.
