Pune sizzles in ‘hottest’ April as mercury touches a 47-year high

IMD Director, weather, Sunita Devi said the frequency of days when the maximum temperature soared to more or equal to 39 degree Celsius was the highest this April for the city. “There has been five instances and we have calculated it on the basis of three or more consecutive days in which the day-time temperature remained more than or equal to 39 degrees. It may be noted that the average maximum temperature for the month of April is 37.9 degree celsius. So considering this, if we were to consider the period between 1969 and 2016, this April reports a maximum of persistent high temperature episodes,’’ she said.

[related-post]

The met department has said that the El Nino phenomenon had affected the monsoon of 2015 and this, in turn, affected the sea surface temperatures—not only over the Pacific Ocean but also over the other oceanic basins, including the Indian Ocean—which saw that warm and dry winds blowing over the Indian sub continent. The same has been seen in the southern peninsular region of the country.

“Lack of moisture incursion under the prevailing wind pattern has led to near absence of thunder showers, especially over peninsular and eastern parts of India so far. A deficient southwest monsoon of past year also has contributed to this situation, in terms of depleted soil moisture, dry and parched land surface and water bodies and less vegetation, which in turn has resulted in depleting moisture content,’’ stated the director of IMD, Pune.

This year in April, rains too has been the lowest this month for the entire country. “The month of April usually received good rainfall in the form of thunder showers in the presence of a north-south wind passing over central Maharasthra along with the local heating and moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal. This was missing this year,” said the Met department.

April has been the hottest in other parts of the country too. Titlagarh and Bhubaneshwar in Odisha have been the warmest with 47. 5 degree celsius and 45.8 degree celsius respectively.

WATCH INDIAN EXPRESS VIDEOS HERE