The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday the heatwave is likely to start subsiding from Thursday as easterly winds will start blowing in northern parts of the country. The IMD has cautioned people not to step out during 1-5 pm due to intense heatwave.
The highest day temperature in Rajasthan on Monday was recorded in Churu at 47.5 degrees Celsius, while Allahabad was the hottest place in Uttar Pradesh at 46.3 degrees Celsius. It had on Sunday sounded a red category alert for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, west and east Rajasthan for heatwave or severe heatwaves.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre, said the red warning has been issued to caution people not to step out during 1- 5 pm, when the intensity of the heat is the most. “Dust and thunder storms are likely in several parts of north India on May 29-30, bringing the much-needed relief from the intense heatwave,”the IMD said. The wind speed is also likely to be around 50-60 kilometres per hour during this period, Srivastava said, adding that this will bring relief from the intense heat. A western disturbance is a cyclonic storm that originates in the Mediterranean Sea and travels across Central Asia. When it comes in contact with the Himalayas, it brings rains to the hills and the plains.
"Heatwave will prevail in many places and severe heatwave in isolated places. Mainly clear sky with strong surface winds (20-20 kilometres per hour)," the IMD forecast said. IMD’s bulletin said that heatwave conditions were also likely over Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Telangana during the next four to five days. Similar conditions were predicted in some pockets over Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, Rayalseema and north-interior Karnataka during next three to four days. A red category alert implies authorities should take action to avoid health emergencies.
Meanwhile, Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, head of Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre said that India has seen the highest temperature of this year (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the last 2 days. The heatwave will start subsiding from May 28 as easterly winds will start blowing in northern parts of the country, he added.
“Rains accompanied by thunderstorms will start occurring from May 29 due to easterly winds in the northern parts of India and the temperature is expected to go down to 40 degrees Celsius,” Jenamani said.
Rajendra Kumar Jenamani also said that the southwest monsoon is likely to hit Kerala next week.“The southwest monsoon is expected to arrive over Kerala coast between June 1 and June 5 and is likely to reach Mumbai between June 15 and June 20,” Jenamani said.