Intense heat broils large swathes of India, IMD says no relief for next 5 days

The blistering heatwave sweeping through vast swathes of the country intensified on Thursday with the mercury crossing the 45degree mark at several placesGurugram logged an alltime high of 456 degrees Celsius breaking the previous record of 448 degrees Celsius on April 28 1979The intense heatwave scorched 452 degrees Celsius in Maharashtras Bramhapuri and 456 degrees Celsius in Jalgaon Jharkhands Daltonganj 458 degrees Celsius Allahabad 459 degrees Celsius in Uttar Pradesh Khajuraho 456 degrees Celsius Nowgong 456 degrees Celsius and Khargone 452 degrees Celsius in Madhya Pradesh Akola 454 degrees CelsiusIts neighbour Delhi saw the hottest April day in 12 years at 435 degrees Celsius The national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 437 degrees Celsius on April 18 2010Amid the heatwave Indias peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day touched the alltime high of 20465 GW on ThursdayThe India Meteorological Department IMD said the spell of heatwave will persist over northwest and central India for the next five days and over east India for the next three daysA rise of about two degrees Celsius in the maximum temperature is very likely over most parts of northwest India during the next two days it saidAn orange alert has been issued for Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra for the next four daysThe IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings Green means no action needed yellow refers to watch and stay updated orange means be prepared while red alert means take actionAccording to weather experts temperatures may even leap to 47 degrees Celsius in parts of northwest IndiaA maximum temperature of 45 degrees Celsius is normal at places like Rajasthans Churu Barmer Bikaner and Sri Ganganagar but 4546 degrees Celsius in the plains of north India by Aprilend is quite unusual independent meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya saidThe IMD said the heatwave could lead to moderate health concerns for vulnerable people such as infants the elderly and people with chronic diseasesHence people should avoid heat exposure wear lightweight and lightcoloured cotton clothes and cover the head with a hat or umbrella it saidThere is an increased likelihood of symptoms of heat illness in people who are either exposed to the sun for a prolonged period or doing heavy work an IMD advisory readA heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 45 notches above normal A severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal temperature is more than 64 notches according to the IMDBased on absolute recorded temperatures a heatwave is declared when an area logs a maximum temperature of 45 degrees CelsiusA severe heatwave is declared if the maximum temperature crosses the 47degree markDileep Mavalankar the director of the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar IIPHG said People need to watch out for IMD advisories stay indoors keep themselves hydrated and rush to the nearest health centre if they feel moderate signs of heatrelated illnessTheres a special need to monitor the old and vulnerable just like we did during the COVID19 waves as they can develop heat strokes even when sitting at home he saidMavalankar said that cities should monitor allcause mortality data daily along with that of hospital admissions and ambulance calls to compare it with the last five years of data to get a real indication of heat stress on mortalityEarly heatwaves have a higher rate of mortality since adaptation and preparedness is low during March and April he saidLarge parts of India have been recording higher than normal temperatures since the last week of March with weather experts attributing it to the absence of periodic light rainfall and thundershowers typical for this time of the year due to the lack of active western disturbancesNorthwest India saw at least four western disturbances in March and April but they were not strong enough to cause a significant change in weather said Mahesh Palawat Vice President Meteorology and Climate Change Skymet a private weather forecasting agencyThe region did not see any significant premonsoon activity from March 1 to April 20 which compounded the severity of successive heatwave spells he said adding it had a ripple effect on central India tooVidarbha in Maharashtra and west Rajasthan have consistently reported maximum temperatures in the range of 40 degrees Celsius to 45 degrees Celsius for the past two monthsIndia saw its warmest March since the IMD began keeping records 122 years ago amid a 71 per cent rain deficitHaving recorded three prolonged heatwave spells it could be one of the hottest April in the history of the country Dahiya saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the 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