Voters heading out to polling booths in the coming elections will have to brace for hotter weather. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the average maximum temperatures from April to June are likely to be warmer by half a degree in several places in Central India and northwest India.
An IMD statement said:
“The season averaged maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by ≥0.5 °C to <1 °C over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, west and east Uttar Pradesh, west and east Rajasthan, west and east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Vidharbha, Marathawada, Coastal Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Telangana.
“Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are likely to be warmer than normal by ≥1 °C.”
The forecast is in line with the IMD’s position in March when it said that the summer months (March-May) would be “warmer” than normal and several parts of North India, at least a degree hotter than their average summer temperatures. It, however, did not specify the specific temperature ranges. The ‘normal’ temperatures refer to the mean temperatures during those months between 1981 and 2010.
El Nino impact
The El Niño, an anomalous heating of the Central Pacific that occurs once in three-five years and linked to droughts in India, may be playing a role. “Current observations suggest weak El Niño conditions. The latest forecast indicates that these conditions are likely to persist during April-June,” the statement added.
