The main roads in the city wore a deserted look on Sunday with the citizens choosing to stay indoors to escape from the sweltering heat.
The holiday crowd, however, made a beeline for the beaches in the evening to beat the heat. Two-wheeler riders found it taxing to wait for a few minutes at the traffic islands for the signal to turn green and some were found jumping the signals too.
Police personnel on traffic duty, auto-rickshaw drivers and others involved in outdoor duties bore the brunt of the heat.
The city has been experiencing hot weather conditions for the past one week, with the mercury levels hovering around 37 degrees Celsius at the airport. The temperatures at Waltair (city areas closer to the coast) hovered around 35 degrees Celsius.
Mercury chart
According to the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC), the maximum day temperatures recorded at Visakhapatnam airport were: May 21 – 37.4°C, May 22 – 36.6°C, May 23 – 36.8°C, May 24 – 37.6°C, May 25 – 37.4°C and May 26 – 38.8°. The all-time highest maximum temperature recorded at Visakhapatnam airport was 42 degrees Celsius on May 19, 1978. On May 26, 2009, it was 40.1 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD.
According to meteorology officials, temperatures are usually lower in coastal areas. But, humidity is causing discomfort to people and this makes them feel that the temperatures are higher than the actual reading.
Though the sea breeze sets in around noon and prevents rise in temperatures, the temperatures in the inland areas are slightly higher but they too rarely go beyond the criteria required for declaration as heatwave, they say.
Heatwave criteria
Heatwave is considered if the maximum temperature reaches at least 40° Celsius or more for plains, while the same for coastal stations is 37° C or more and 30°C or more for hilly regions.
Apart from this, the maximum temperature for a station in the plains and in coastal areas, the departure should be above the normal maximum temperature of that place by at least 5°C to be declared as heatwave, and if it is 7°C or more than the normal, it can be declared as severe heatwave.
If the actual maximum temperature of a place records 45°C to 46 °C, it can be declared as heatwave and if it records 47° C or more, it can be declared as severe heatwave, irrespective of the departure from the normal temperature.
Further, to declare heatwave, the above criteria should be met at least in two stations in a meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and it will be declared on the second day, the weathermen say.
