West Delhi’s Najafgarh recorded a maximum temperature of 47.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, making it the hottest day of the country for this season.
The national capital and northwest India have been experiencing extreme heat waves, with no signs of relief in sight as temperatures have risen above 47 degrees Celsius.
Friday was the hottest day of the season in Najafgarh, west of Delhi, with a high temperature of 47.4 degrees Celsius. The severe heatwave is expected to last until May 21 over Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
The conditions are expected to turn worse as severe heat waves over the northwest Indian plains are predicted to continue during the next five days, said the report.
Before this, on April 30, Kalaikunda in the Gangetic West Bengal region had recorded a high of 47.2 degrees Celsius.
According to the weather department, Safdarjung in Delhi experienced its peak temperature of 47.2 degrees Celsius in May of 1944.
As many as eight weather stations in the city recorded a maximum temperature of 45 degrees Celsius and above including Palam (45.1), Ridge (45.0), Ayanagar (46.2), Jafarpur (45.9), Mungeshpur (46.5), NCMRWF-NOIDA (45.2), Pitampura (45.8), and Pusa (45.9).
Sweltering heat continued at other places as well with Uttar Pradesh’s Agra recording a maximum temperature of 46.9 degrees Celsius, Barmer (Rajasthan) 46.5 degrees Celsius, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) 44.9 degrees Celsius, Surendranagar (Gujarat) 44.7 degrees Celsius, and Patiala (Punjab) 44.4 degrees Celsius.
An estimated 54.3 crore individuals in India would endure at least one day of intense heat during this time, according to a US-based team of climate scientists at Climate Central.
“Human-caused climate change has made this intense heat much more likely. The high overnight temperatures make this event particularly alarming,” Andrew Pershing, vice president for science at Climate Central, told PTI.
The IMD issued a red alert for west Rajasthan and an orange alert for Haryana, Punjab, east Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.
It cautioned on the need for ‘extreme care for vulnerable people’, including infants, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
The Met Office had earlier predicted a higher-than-normal number of heatwave days in the northern plains and central India in May.
