Mercury up by 11 degrees in Vizag, records 44.6 degrees Celsius, highest in AP

VISHAKHAPATNAM: Breaking the records of the decade, the temperature rose by 11 degrees Celsius in Visakhapatnam city and 9.5 degrees at Visakhapatnam airport on Saturday.

The highest temperature of 45.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in Vizag city on June 9, 1995 and 44 degrees Celsius on June 2, 2012.

According to IMD, the temperature recorded on Saturday in Visakhapatnam city was 43.4 degrees Celsius and 44.6 degrees Celsius at Visakhapatnam airport.

Parts of Andhra Pradesh also experienced heatwave conditions on Saturday. Several parts of the coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region turned into furnaces giving a tough time to the people, especially the elderly, children and pregnant women. The hot and humid weather conditions caused much discomfort to the Vizagites on Saturday as people felt the heatwave conditions from morning to evening.

As per the IMD-Amaravati, Vizag registered the highest temperature of 44.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, followed by Jangamaheswara Puram in Palnadu district 43.4°C, Visakhapatnam (Waltair), 43.4°C, Tunu (43.1° C), Kavali (42.6° C),  Ongole (42.1° C), Amaravati (42.1° C), Kakinada (41.9° C), Nellore (41.6° C), Nandigama (41.6° C), Bapatla (41.4° C), Tirupati (41° C), Gannavaram (40.5° C)

The IMD-Amaravati predicted that the day temperatures may increase by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius on Monday and parts of the state will experience the heatwave conditions on Sunday and Monday. A thunderstorm with gusty winds up to 30-40 KMPH is expected on Sunday and Monday in the parts of the state and may bring some relief from hot and humid weather in the state.

The weathermen said that when the influence of south-westerly winds is more, temperatures rise as they arrest the sea breeze from flowing on to the land, resulting in hot and humid (discomfort) weather conditions prevailed in parts of the coastal Andhra Pradesh. The weathermen said that Andhraites must wait some more days to get relief from the hot and humid weather conditions.

The southwest monsoon may hit Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh in three to four days, and it may take some more time to spread throughout the state, they added.

A low pressure area formed over northeast Bay of Bengal but it may not have any impact on the AP coast.