In what seems like a never-ending heat wave, daytime temperatures across northwestern states like Rajasthan stayed over 45°C for the third consecutive week. On Monday, Churu in Rajasthan recorded the highest maximum temperature in the country of 50.3°C—eight notches above normal for the region.
Meanwhile, with a whopping maximum temperature of 48°C at the Palam monitoring station on Monday, Delhi broke the rather undesirable record for the hottest day in June. As per the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) records, the national capital's previous June high was 47.8°C, recorded on June 9, 2014. At the Safdarjung monitoring station also, the recorded temperature on Monday (45.6°C) was the highest in the last 10 years.
On Tuesday, Delhi's maximum temperature is expected to be 45.6 °C, i.e. six degrees above normal for this time of year. The minimum temperature will be one degree below normal, at 27.2°C.
The wait for respite, however, might finally end for the region as temperatures are likely to fall from Tuesday onwards. Due to the combined effect of a western disturbance in the north, cyclonic circulations in the southern peninsula and the approaching Cyclone Vayu, temperatures across India have started to fall and the area under heatwave is expected to shrink as the week progresses.
Northwest sizzles on Monday
According to El Dorado Weather, which monitors the global weather extremes, Churu was the second hottest place on earth on Monday. On Monday, IMD reported that temperatures in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were more than 5°C above the normal for this time of the year. Over the last three weeks, many parts of northwest and central India have witnessed temperatures above 45°C.
In addition to Delhi, other major cities in the region also saw extreme temperatures on Monday. Allahabad recorded a maximum temperature of 48.9°C. Gurugram experienced the highest temperature at 45.8°C while Narnaul and Sirsa in Haryana witnessed 48.3°C and 47.1°C respectively. In Punjab, temperatures in Bathinda, Ludhiana, and Patiala also crossed 45°C. Most cities in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh including Jaipur, Bikaner, Bhopal and Gwalior also witnessed temperatures above 45°C.
Relief forecast
While many regions including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, and Chandigarh witnessed temperatures above 45°C, on Tuesday, the area under high temperature may shrink to very few, small, isolated pockets in UP, MP and Rajasthan. From Wednesday onward no part of the country is expected to witness such high temperatures. The area with temperatures above 40°C is also forecast to shrivel during the second half of the week.
IMD forecasts also suggest that the day time temperatures will gradually come down this week. The national forecaster predicts that by Friday, only some parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will witness heat wave as against the 17 states and union territories under heat wave as on Monday.
While the 20 warmest years recorded globally were in the last 22 years, experts believe that the combined effect of climate change and El Niño could make 2019 another year of record heat. Earlier this year, in its seasonal forecast, IMD predicted that average maximum temperatures from April to June 2019 will be warmer than normal by 0.5°C over most parts of central India and some parts of northwest India. The persistent El Niño is thought to be a major reason for this warming trend.
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