Every Day Could Be a ’Sun’day This Summer

 Hyderabad: The current spell of soaring temperatures could well be an indication of how severe this summer might be for Telangana, if the highs recorded across the state on Monday are any indication.

Each of the 33 districts of the state reported, by 5 pm on Monday, temperatures in excess of 40º Celsius. Even in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, except in one of the 33 circles, all others recorded temperatures above 40º Celsius.

Even as the sweltering heat covered the state like a hot blanket with the maximum temperatures above normal by 0.5ºC to 2ºC, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of higher minimum temperatures this month and in May and June. These predictions might make whatever relief people might expect once the Sun goes down, harder to experience.

On Monday, Nalgonda and Siddipet districts reported the highest temperatures of 43ºC Celsius while the lowest maximum of 40.5ºC was reported from Hanamkonda district. The IMD, meanwhile, cautioned people of the possibility of hot winds in several districts over three days.

One of the reasons for the above normal temperatures is the El Nino, the unusual warming of waters in the southern Pacific Ocean which disrupts normal weather patterns and impacts several parts of the world including the Indian monsoon season, as was witnessed during the 2023 rainy season in the country which witnessed less than average rainfall.

“During the three years before 2023, maximum temperatures were either normal or below normal because of the La Nina conditions. But this year, we are still experiencing the impact of El Nino. This has meant slightly higher temperatures that began in the third week of March and are continuing,” Y.V. Rama Rao, a former deputy director-general of the IMD, told Deccan Chronicle on Monday.

“In 2015 and 2016 we had very high temperatures, and again, after around six years, we are experiencing temperature highs. While there were no heatwaves in the last two years, this year we already experienced heat wave conditions in two mandals of Nalgonda district this past week,” he said.

The IMD, for the April forecast released on Monday, said there was a 45 to 75 per cent probability of above normal temperatures in Telangana state, as well as rest of the country except isolated pockets of northeast and northwest India. Similarly, there was a 55 to more than 75 per cent probability of higher than normal minimum temperatures in the state, it said.

For what the IMD calls AMJ period (April, May June), it said only one small pocket in Telangana – probably in the Peddapalli-Karimnagar-Jagtial belt —may record normal temperatures when averaged out, while the rest of the state will experience above normal temperatures even when the averages are taken at the end of the summer season.

Not an April 1 joke

Hottest in the state on April 1:

43ºC

Madugulapally (Nalgonda); Chityal (Siddipet)

Above 42.9ºC

Timmapur, Theldeverapalle (Nalgonda); Dulmitta (Siddipet); Eklaspur (Peddapalli); Dasturabad (Nirmal); Garimellapadu, Sujathanagar (Bhadradri-Kothagudem); Kolvai (Jagtial)

Sizzling in the GHMC area

Circle – Location – Temperature

41.9ºC

Moosapet: CBCID Colony, KPHB.

41.7ºC

Khairatabad: Ganaanka Bhavan; Chandanagar: JPN Nagar, Miyapur.

41.6ºC

Kapra: Nacharam; Hayathnagar: Rocktown Colony, Nagole.

41.5ºC

Serilingampally, Univ of Hyd; Malkajgiri, Moulali – 41.5

Data from Telangana State Development Planning Society