IMD sounds heatwave alert for seven districts in interior Maharashtra

Mumbai The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) regional forecasting centre in Nagpur has sounded a ‘yellow’ category heatwave alert for seven districts in interior Maharashtra — under the Vidarbha meteorological sub-division — till May 11, including Nagpur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Washim, Akola, Chandrapur and Amravati. Just a day earlier, the IMD had warned that a fresh spell of heatwaves is likely over northwest and central India starting May 7.

As per the IMD, a heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius, or when the maximum temperature shows a departure of 4.5 to 6.4 degrees above normal. A departure of 6.5 degrees Celsius or more is considered a severe heatwave.

In line with the forecasts, all 11 of the IMD’s weather stations in Vidarbha recorded a maximum temperature in excess of 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday, with Chandrapur clocking the highest reading of 44 degrees Celsius, followed by Akola at 43.9 degrees Celsius and Brahmpuri at 43.1 degrees Celsius.

“The conditions are not as intense as the heat wave which just passed last week, and they are not as widespread. We have not issued heatwave alerts for districts in Marathwada and Madhya Maharashtra, and in Vidarbha heatwave conditions will be felt in isolated pockets. Vulnerable groups like people with chronic illness, the elderly and infants should take care to avoid exposure to the outdoors,” said KS Hosalikar, head of the IMD’s surface instrument division in Pune.

A low-pressure area which formed over the Bay of Bengal on May 6, and which is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm over the weekend, will drag moisture from interior Maharashtra toward the east coast via westerly winds, leading to drier conditions that are more conducive to retaining heat. Officials at IMD said that though other meteorological subdivisions in Maharashtra, namely Marathwada and Madhya Maharashtra, are not at risk of a heatwave, they may also experience a one to two degree rise in daytime maximum temperature over the next three days due to this phenomenon.