Heat wave to continue in East India but relief likely in northwestern plains soon, says IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said that the heat wave conditions over East India is likely to continue for the next four days and abate thereafter.

Meanwhile, it added that a western disturbance active in the western Himalayan region will provide some relief from the soaring temperatures in the plains of northwest India.

"Latest satellite and radar observations show the movement of an intense convective cloud mass across Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, leading to favourable conditions for light to moderate rainfall with occasional intense spells of intense rain along with isolated thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds and hailstorms over the region during next 3-4 hours," IMD said.

On Tuesday, heatwave conditions prevailed in India as the temperature crossed the 40 degrees Celsius mark in most parts of the country.

Bundi in Rajasthan registered the maximum temperature at 45.2 degrees Celsius, the first of the season for the country, stated a Skymet weather report. Similarly, Prayagraj and Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh were the hottest at 44.2 degrees Celsius.

Gangetic West Bengal also sizzled under high day temperatures on Tuesday, as the mercury hovered over 40 degrees Celsius in several places, with heatwave conditions prevailing in the western districts, the Met Department said.

The threshold for a heatwave is met when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, at least 37 degrees Celsius in coastal areas, and at least 30 degrees Celsius in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius.

Relief likely soon?

The IMD said a western disturbance active over the western Himalayan region is expected to bring light rain in the northwestern plains starting Tuesday.

Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan are likely to experience isolated to scattered rainfall during April 18-20, it said. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also expected to experience heavy rainfall on April 18-19.

MeT has also predicted light rain and thunderstorms in Rajasthan's Jodhpur and Bikaner divisions and in Jaipur, Ajmer and Bharatpur divisions on April 19 and 20.

It has also predicted a fall in temperatures by 2-3 degrees in the next two days.