An intense heatwave scorched parts of north India on Sunday with places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh recording 49 degrees Celsius and above while the weather office has warned of heavy rainfall across Kerala and sounded a red alert for five districts.
In Delhi, the Safdarjung observatory recorded 45.6 degrees Celsius while two weather stations at Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi and Najafgarh in southwest Delhi reported 49.2 and 49.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Neighbouring Gurugram in Haryana witnessed a scalding temperature of 48.1 degrees Celsius, the highest since May 10, 1966, when the city logged 49 degrees Celsius.
The Capital may have been breaking rainfall records in January and February this year, but since March 1, Delhi hasn’t seen any significant showers, one of the factors experts that said was behind the early and intense heat spell across the city.
India and the surrounding areas underwent an acute rise in temperatures in mid-March as heatwaves blanketed the sub-continent. The extremely hot conditions triggered a range of problems, including reduced crop yield and increased pollution. The relentless heatwave seems to be stubborn too since it is still persistent in various cities.
NASA has deployed a satellite instrument called Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment On Space Station (ECOSTRESS), which is currently measuring the temperatures of the ground from space. In a report published on May 12, NASA stated that the ECOSTRESS instrument has measured the areas in India experiencing heat waves.
As per the data collected by ECOSTRESS, cities were warmer than the surrounding countryside areas. The reason is expected to be increased human activity and the building materials that make up the cities. NASA has titled these comparatively hotter areas as “heat islands.”
A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 4.5 notches above the normal. A severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal temperature is more than 6.4 notches, according to the IMD.
Based on absolute recorded temperatures, a heatwave is declared when an area logs a maximum temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. A severe heatwave is declared if the maximum temperature crosses the 47-degree Celsius mark.
