PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, April 30: A relentless heatwave continued to sweep large swathes of Jharkhand, with the maximum temperature in Daltonganj soaring, for the second day running, to around 46 degrees Celsius (°C) – the highest recorded in April in recent years.
With a maximum temperature of 46°C, Daltonganj, the Palamu headquarters was the hottest in the country on Friday.
This was for the first time in the last 50 years or so that heatwave in Jharkhand continued for over a month without a break, suggests IMD records.
IMD New Delhi has issued an orange warning for all of northwest India, central India and Jharkhand as well for Saturday.
Notably, a yellow warning, meanwhile, is in place for nearly the entire country barring a few pockets till May 3 in view of extreme heat. An orange alert is a warning to administrators to be prepared for imminent heat waves. A yellow alert is to warn them to be watchful.
On Friday, weather stations in at least 16 out of 24 Jharkhand districts recorded temperatures exceeding an oppressive 40°C.
Giridih and its adjoining districts experienced a severe heatwave with bouts of Loo during the past 24 hours. Giridih’s day reading was six notches above the normal.
Jamshedpur too boiled at 44°C along with several places in adjoining West Singhbhum. The maximum readings were below 40 degrees Celsius in Dumka, Sahibganj and a few other places because of last evening’s light rain and thundershowers activity.
According to IMD’s gridded dataset, four states – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh – are seeing the hottest April 1-April 28 period this year since 1951.
The day was the hottest this year since 1951 in seven states: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Mizoram. It was the third hottest in four states – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Tripura – and the fifth hottest in Jharkhand.
Climate analysts said the absence of rain through April in most parts of Jharkhand has only exacerbated the already-intense heat.
Meanwhile, IMD’s Ranchi Met Centre in its revised forecast has predicted thunderstorms and rain with the gusty surface wind blowing at a speed of 40 to 50 Km per hour over eastern and central parts of the state after the next 24 hours.
