With temperatures around 40 degrees C, IMD issues heatwave warning for Ratnagiri, Raigad, Kutch in Feb
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a heatwave alert for the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts of coastal Maharashtra on Monday and Tuesday. It is both rare and unusual for these coastal regions of the state to experience heatwaves, that too in February.
Mumbai, too, is reeling under severe heat in comparison to the normal temperatures recorded during February.
Citizens have been warned against stepping outdoors during peak afternoon hours (12 noon – 4 pm) and to stay hydrated and protect themselves from dehydration and heatstroke.
On Sunday, among the hottest areas in Maharashtra were Akola at 36.8 degrees Celsius, Mumbai (Santacruz) at 36.5 degrees Celsius (up by 5.6 degrees), Solapur at 36.4 degrees Celsius, Jalgaon at 35.8 degrees Celsius, Amravati at 35.4 degrees Celsius, Satara at 35.3 degrees Celsius, Ratnagiri at 35.1 degrees Celsius and Nagpur at 35 degrees Celsius.
“Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat will come under the influence of dry and hot anti-cyclonic winds blowing in from northern and northwestern India regions, which will affect the local weather and lead to a spike in the maximum temperatures, especially over Konkan-Goa and some pockets of Gujarat for another two days,” the IMD officials warned.
Since late last week, Ratnagiri has been consistently recording maximum temperatures ranging between 37-40 degrees Celsius, making it abnormally warm for the transition between winter to summer seasons.
The maximum temperatures recorded in many parts of Konkan-Goa and Kutch-Saurashtra regions have been 5 to 7 degrees Celsius above normal and ranged between 37-39 degrees Celsius. As a result, heatwave conditions will prevail at least for the next two days, an official from IMD Delhi stated.
In what is being seen as an early heatwave event in February, the soaring temperatures in Rajasthan in the last week and its continuing spillover effect over Maharashtra and Gujarat this week – that too, over the coastal regions of Maharashtra – is beginning to ring alarm bells ahead of this year’s summer season waiting at India’s doorstep.
Normally, heatwaves in India are common over the core heatwave zone – Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – during March and June, occasionally in July as well.
The IMD declares a heatwave when the maximum temperature recorded at a station located in the plains exceeds 5 degrees Celsius above normal or crosses 40 degrees Celsius. The temperature threshold over a station in the hills is 35 degrees Celsius and 37 degrees Celsius over the coast.
The Met department has also placed Kutch, Surendranagar and Rajkot districts in Gujarat under the heatwave alert till Wednesday. Hot conditions have persisted in these arid areas of Gujarat since mid-February. In fact, last week, Bhuj had become the first station to record a day temperature over 40 degrees this year, again, as early as February. It was Bhuj’s hottest February day since 2011, as per the temperature records maintained by the IMD.
Some respite from the heatwave over both Maharashtra and Gujarat is expected only by the middle of this week when a fresh stream of western disturbance will affect the northernmost regions of the state.
Anjali Marar is the Science Communication and Outreach Manager at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru
