With no respite from the heat any time soon, temperatures continued to rise and northwest and central India experienced their hottest April in 122 years with average maximum temperatures reaching 35.9 and 37.78 degrees Celsius respectively, the Climate Working Group said on Saturday.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mritunjay Mohapatra said, “Northwest and West Central elements of the US – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana – will continue to experience above average daily temperatures in May as well.”
Mohapatra also brought that nights will be hotter in most parts of the country except some parts of southern peninsular India in May.
The pan-India average temperature recorded for April was 35.05 degrees, the fourth warmest in 122 years, he said.
“We may have above-normal rainfall in May 2022,” Mohapatra said.
The IMD director general, however, said that parts of northwest and northeast India such as the extreme southeast peninsula are expected to be well below daily rainfall in May.
Mohapatra said the high temperatures in March and April were attributed to “incessant rainfall activity”.
Northwest India recorded about 89 percent rainfall deficit in March, while the deficit was about 83 percent in April, due to a weak and dry Western Disturbance.
Mohapatra said north India witnessed six western disturbances but they were mostly weak and moved across the higher Himalayas, adding that three western disturbances triggered strong winds in parts of Delhi and dust storms in Rajasthan in April.
Meanwhile, India, particularly the northwestern and western parts of the country, has been suffering from severe heat wave conditions for the past few weeks.
