Soaring mercury tightens grip over northern states
Several cities in the northern plains of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh continued to sizzle under highs ranging between 45 and 49°C.
Churu in western Rajasthan recorded a maximum temperature of 50.5°C on Tuesday, in a 7.5°C departure from normal, breaching the 50°C-mark for the first time this season, and narrowly missing the 51°C record — the highest ever in the country — from Phalodi in 2019.
Several cities in the northern plains of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh continued to sizzle under highs ranging between 45 and 49°C.
Tuesday’s weather records from the India Meteorological Department showed that after Churu, Sirsa in Haryana was the second warmest in the country with a maximum temperature of 50.3°C. It was closely followed by Shri Ganganagar in Rajasthan at 49.4°C, followed by 49.3°C in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and 49°C in Pilani and Phalodi, both in Rajasthan.
Phalodi, in Jodhpur, recently made the headlines when on May 25 it recorded the maximum temperature of 50°C which was the third highest maximum temperature for the month of May. The city recorded 51°C on May 19, 2016, and 50.5°C on May 18, 2016.
Read Here: Heatwave takes a toll but no data on deaths
According to IMD, Tuesday’s temperature in Churu was highest recorded for any place in Rajasthan this summer and also the highest ever maximum temperature in Churu for the month of May. The previous high was 50.2°C on May 19, 2016.
To be sure, the year 2016 was when the last phase of the El Nino weather patten waned, after it set in 2014. An El Nino set in last year, and started waning early this year. The weather phenomena is usually characterised by a warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean. In India, this leads to warmer summers and a drier monsoon.
The 2016 record from Churu, however, still remained below the highest ever maximum temperature recorded in the city — 50.8°C on June 1, 2019.
“The maximum temperature in Churu was 7.5°C above from the normal temperature,” said an IMD official based in Jaipur.
Heatwave Update: 10 hottest cities in India
There was, however, some silver lining with hot conditions being particularly dry. Churu’s relative humidity was a low 6%, which meant the heat index (HI) was 45°C. This measure is also known as the “feels like” temperature and takes into account how easy or difficult it is for a human body to cool itself by sweating - less humidity means sweat evaporates more readily. Conversely, if humidity is high, the evaporative cooling of sweat becomes difficult, making it feel hotter than it actually is — like it was in Delhi on May 22 when the maximum air temperature was 43.4 degrees C, but the HI or real feel was much higher at 55 degrees since humidity was 62-37%.
Some other places in Rajasthan that recorded high temperature were Bikaner (48.3°C), Kota (48.2°C), Jaisalmer (48°C), Jaipur (46.6°C) and Barmer (46°C).
The Met department has forecast a drop in temperatures from Wednesday, with a fall of 2-4 degrees over the next 48 hours. It also expects the temperatures to return to near-normal by first week of June.
Read Here: How are Delhi residents coping with heatwave?
“Due to the impact of a new western disturbance, isolated thunderstorms may occur in the northern parts of the country on May 31. There is a strong possibility of thunderstorm activities on June 1-2 as well,” the department said.
Several other cities and towns across North India similarly sweltered under such high temperatures Narnaul in Haryana recording 48.5°C, Rewa in Madhya Pradesh 48.2°C and Rohtak in Haryana 48.1°C.
The situation is similarly dire in Jammu and Kashmir. The weather department said that Jammu district recorded 43.6°C, which is 4.5 degrees above normal, while Katra recorded 39.4°C, 4.7 degrees above normal.
In Kashmir valley, the temperatures are running about 4 to 8 degrees above normal.
Qazigund recorded 33.4°C, about 8.1 degrees above normal, the summer capital Srinagar recorded 32.6°C, some 6.5 degrees above normal.