Temperature in North India remains high; drizzle in some parts
At least three places in Uttar Pradesh, including Kanpur and Prayagraj recorded the highest ever May temperature
The temperature in most places in Rajasthan and Haryana, which sizzled at over 50 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, continued to remain high on Wednesday, even though western disturbance brought drizzle in some parts. At least three places in Uttar Pradesh, including Kanpur and Prayagraj recorded the highest ever May temperature. Maximum temperature in other parts of northern plains continued to be above 46 degrees Celsius on Wednesday with the temperatures expected to to come down from Thursday onwards.
The maximum temperature recorded in Rajasthan on Wednesday was at 48.2 degrees Celsius in Pilani district, followed by 47.7 degrees Celsius in Churu, which had recorded 50.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, followed by 47.5 degrees Celsius in Alwar.
Churu’s all-time highest recorded maximum temperature was 50.8 degrees Celsius in June 2019. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that in most places in Rajasthan, the maximum temperature was one to three degrees less than the maximum temperature on Tuesday.
Several places in Haryana also witnessed light rainfall bringing some response from the heatwave a day when Sirsa recorded 49.5 degree Celsius, followed by Hisar (49.3 degree Celsius) and Nuh (49). On Tuesday, Sirsa had recorded 50.3 degrees Celsius. The rainfall lashed in Rohtak, Fatehabad and some other parts of the state on Wednesday evening.
The weather department has forecasted a heat wave to severe heat wave in the next two days and heat wave/ warm night on May 31 in Haryana’s Sirsa, Hisar, Fatehabad, Jind, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts.
On Wednesday, Prayagraj, Kanpur (City), Fursatganj and Sultanpur met stations of eastern Uttar Pradesh recorded all time high May temperatures. Prayagraj was hottest at 48.8 degree Celsius, 7.1 degree above normal. It is the highest for May since 1896, as per the available manual Observatory data of IMD. The previous highest May temperature of 48.4 degrees was recorded on May 30, 1994.
Day temperature at Kanpur IAF was 48.4. Since 1951, day temperature never rose to this level during May. Previous highest in Kanpur City was 46.3 recorded on May 16, 1970. Maximum temperature at Fursatganj was 47.2 degree Celsius, a new record since 2006 as per IMD data. Previous highest for the month was 45.6 recorded on May 30, 2012. Day temperature at Sultanpur was 46 degree, 6.4 degrees above normal, a record in 54 years since 1970. The previous highest was 45.8 recorded on May 29, 2019.
A day after Jhansi and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh broke temperature record of over 100 years, maximum temperatures at most places moderated by a few degrees Celsius. Jhansi, which recorded the highest temperature (49 degrees Celsius) in 132 years on Tuesday, recorded 47.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
The previous high of 48.2 degrees was recorded on May 20, 1984.
Varanasi BHU, which recorded 47.2 degrees equaling its 140-year-old record for the first time, on Wednesday recorded 46.7. The Taj city of Agra which broke its 30-year-old record by reeling under 48.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, which was 5.7 degrees above normal, recorded 48 on Wednesday.
According to IMD bulletin, nine districts of Bihar reported temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, with Aurangabad reporting a maximum of 48.2 degrees Celsius while seven districts reported temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius.
“Severe heatwave condition is expected to prevail in south Bihar, including Gaya, Buxar, Nawada, Rohtas and Aurangabad and some other parts till Thursday. From Friday, there will be some relief as the temperature will slightly dip but humidity will remain high,” said IMD scientist Ashish Kumar.
Heatwave returned to Odisha with 20 cities recording maximum temperatures of more than 40 degree Celsius on Wednesday. The western Odisha town of Bolangir recorded the highest temperature in the state of 46.3 degree Celsius and was among 11 other western Odisha cities recording 40- plus degree temperature.
In Uttarakhand, two districts recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, according to IMD. Bikram Singh, director IMD Dehradun Centre said, “Dehradun recorded a maximum temperature of 42.4 degrees Celsius and Pant Nagar recorded 40.8 degrees on Wednesday. During the past 24 hours, maximum temperatures were observed above normal by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius at many places.
In Himachal, Una continued to record the highest temperature in the state. On Wednesday, the district recorded 43 degrees Celsius maximum temperature as compared to 45.4 degrees on Tuesday. Districts such as Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Mandi continued to record over 40 degrees maximum temperature. Shimla experienced the hottest day of the season at 31.7 with its daily supply of drinking water falling from 39.11 million litres per day to 33 MLD on Wednesday, resulting in water shortages in several localities.
In Kashmir, temperatures were relatively lower with cloud cover and light rain in certain parts on Wednesday. Srinagar recorded 27.5 degree Celsius while Qazigund, the gateway to Kashmir, witnessed 28.6 degree Celsius. On Monday, Qazigund had broken a record with mercury touching 34°C, the highest ever temperature in May in 43 years. Jammu division, on the other hand, was hotter as heatwave continued. Jammu district recorded the highest 44.8 degree Celsius, 5.7 degree above normal, and Katra recorded 40.3 degree Celsius, 4.7 degrees above normal.
Regional weather office director Mukhtar Ahmad said that there will be respite in heat wave weather conditions over plains of Jammu division in the next seven days.
