Summer appears to have “encroached” upon autumn’s space, resulting in one of the hottest Octobers across the northeast in the last 50 years.
But the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a few spells of rain or thundershowers in the next few days to tame the mercury.
Guwahati recorded an average of 37.07°C over three days till October 16, when most cities in the north-east registered a temperature of 4-5 degrees higher than usual.
Itanagar the hottest
Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar was the hottest on October 16 at 37.8°C followed by Tripura capital Agartala at 34.8°C, Mizoram capital Aizawl at 29.2°C, Manipur capital Imphal at 28.8°C, Nagaland capital Kohima at 26.5°C, and Meghalaya capital Shillong at 26.2°C.
IMD officials said a day or two in October could have been hotter in the past 50 years, but the high temperature has unusually persisted over a longer period this time.
“The rise in temperature is due to a low pressure system in the Bay of Bengal. There is less moisture because of the low pressure, resulting in this dry weather,” said Sunit Das, a meteorologist at the IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre.
“But the temperature is set to go down with rain or thundershower likely in the next three-four days,” he said.
Deficit rainfall
According to the IMD, Assam experienced a monsoon with 22% deficit rainfall. The rainfall deficit in the other six contiguous north-eastern States ranged from 21-30%.
The meteorologists said it would be difficult to attribute the dip in rainfall and an “extended summer” to climate change. “Data of all the meteorological centres over a substantial period of time need to be analysed to come to a conclusion,” a weather specialist said.
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