Get set for a long summer

Hyderabad: This year will have more hot days – over five months of summer starting from February up to June – till the onset of monsoon in the second week of June.

Hyderabad on February 3 recorded a maximum temperature of 37ºC, the highest so far. Experts say due to the El Nino factor  “the rise of the surface temperature of the Pacific ocean” is to be blamed for an increase in the maximum temperature.

Temperatures will cross the 45ºC mark, says the Met department. The last time the city witnessed a maximum temperature of 45.5ºC was on June 2, 1966. Last year?s maximum was 44.3ºC.

Presently, the wind direction is from south easterly and is moist. Only a cyclone or a disturbance in the Bay of Bengal can bring in some relief, said officials. El Niño is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns.

Mr N. Narasimha Rao, assistant meteorologist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad, said, “While 2015 was declared the warmest year globally, 2016 will have more number of warmer days which means it will be a long summer. Warmer does not mean that the maximum day temperatures will take a drastic leap to 50ºC, but will vary, like 44.2 to 44.9ºC and can touch 45ºC max towards the end of May or beginning of June.

The present winds are coming from Bay of Bengal. “From May onwards the sun will be overhead. May end and June first week will be the hottest.”

“Any disturbance in the Bay of Bengal will bring down the temperatures,” added the IMD official. Lack of cloud formation is leading to a rise in daytime temperatures and a dip in the nights. Over the last two days, there has been a rise in day temperatures by 2-3 degrees. The forecast for Thursday is partly cloudy skies and possibility of haze or mist in the morning hours.