Heat wave singes North India, monsoon not yet in sight
New Delhi: Blistering heat scorched north India on Thursday driving power demand to new highs while the India Meteorological Department warned that the heat wave is likely to continue in this region for the next two days.
It also said there is no chance of Delhi and its neighbouring region receiving monsoon rains till July 7. After that, the region will witness below-normal rainfall till the middle of this month.
Temperatures across the northern plains have crossed 40 degrees Celsius in the last few days. The southwest monsoon has covered the entire country but has eluded Haryana, Delhi, parts of Punjab, west Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh.
A number of places in the Himalayan hills have been experiencing unusually high temperatures.
Heat wave conditions were recorded in most places is Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, northwest Rajasthan and northwest Madhya Pradesh, with severe heat wave conditions at isolated areas in the region.
The national capital on Thursday recorded a maximum temperature of 43.1 degrees Celsius, six notches above the normal, pushing the city's peak power demand to 7,026 MW on Thursday afternoon, the highest in this season so far.
"Heat wave conditions are very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and some parts of Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan and northwest Madhya Pradesh till July 2," the MeT office said.
The intensity of the heat wave and its area coverage are likely to decrease thereafter due to expected south-westerly winds from the Arabian Sea. But there won't be much relief during the next seven days due to the increase in humidity, IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said.
The weather department said the delay in the arrival of the monsoon in this region is likely to impact agricultural operations such as sowing and transplantation of crops, irrigation scheduling and power requirements in the region, including Punjab and Haryana the food bowl of the country.
However, in a sigh of relief, the IMD has forecast that the southwest monsoon over the country is likely to be normal in July.
The IMD director said though the rainfall is not expected to be good in the first week of July, the precipitation activity is likely to pick up in the second half of the second week of the month.
"Monthly rainfall for July 2021 over the country as a whole is most likely to be normal (94 to 106 per cent of Long Period Average)," the IMD said.
"Below normal to normal rainfall probability is likely over many areas of northwest India and some parts of the south peninsula, central, east and northeast India. Normal to above-normal rainfall is most likely to be experienced over parts of central India and adjacent areas of peninsular India and Gangetic plains," it said.
