Mumbai: City sizzles, mercury hits 43.4 degrees in Chandrapur

Mumbai: The heat wave in Maharashtra has started to take effect as Chandrapur sizzled at 43.4 degree Celsius on Tuesday.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued an advisory stating that temperatures 0.5 degrees higher than the usual would be witnessed in the first half of the summer season over the country, including states like Maharashtra, which is already reeling under drought conditions.

Apart from Chandrapur, Parbhani’s temperature shot up to 42.6 degrees while Beed, Nanded recorded 42.5 degrees, and Amravati and Malegaon recorded 42.4 degrees Tuesday.

“The April to June (AMJ) season average maximum temperatures are likely to be higher than normal by 0.5 degree Celsius over most of the meteorological subdivisions from central India and some subdivisions from northwest India. Near normal maximum temperatures are likely in the remaining subdivisions,” the seasonal outlook of IMD said.

The northwest subdivision of the IMD comprises the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan, while the central India subdivision comprises Maharashtra, Chhattisgrah, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

For Maharashtra, the IMD had issued a heat wave warning for the Vidarbha region for the next five days along with the likelihood of similar conditions in isolated pockets of Nashik, Ahmednagar, Beed and Parbhani districts.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai recorded comparatively lower maximum temperature at 32 degree Tuesday, while the minimum temperature for the day was recorded at 21 degree.

The Asian Age had earlier reported on March 29 that weak El Nino conditions have developed over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and that these conditions are likely to persist in the early part of the summer season and likely to weaken
thereafter.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that a host of factors, other than El Nino, determined the monsoon’s performance.