Conditions stretch from western Rajasthan to Rayalaseema, including interior Maharashtra.
At least 16 of the 36 of the meteorological subdivisions in India are reeling under heat wave-like conditions, according to the India Meteorological Division (IMD).
Meteorological subdivisions, unlike state boundaries, are based on shared climatic patterns.
IMD declared heat wave conditions over parts of Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal in its April 26, 2022 press release. It also named other regions experiencing the above-40 degree Celsius temperature scenario.
Read more: Half of Bengal facing heatwave conditions; little respite expected soon
The weather forecasting agency issues an alert for heat wave scenario when temperatures are over 40°C over the plains, 37°C in the coastal regions and 30°C in the hills, according to IMD. One more caveat is that such conditions need to persist for at least two consecutive days.
The present heat wave-like scenario (over 40°C) in the country stretches from western Rajasthan to Rayalaseema (Andhra Pradesh) in the south, including parts of interior Maharashtra.
How bad is this year’s heat wave?
Heat waves have swept the country since as early as March this year, Down to Earth had earlier reported. There were instances of heat wave-like conditions in 15 states of India from March 11 to April 24, 2022, an analysis of IMD’s heat wave data by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based non-profit, suggested.
But, surprisingly, Himachal Pradesh, one of Himalayan states, has had 21 heatwaves and severe heat waves — fewer only than Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (25 days).
Why did it start early?
Anticyclones in western Rajasthan in March and absence of rain-bearing Western disturbances had triggered the early heat wave season in India, D Sivananda Pai, a meteorologist with Climate Change Studies, Kottayam, Kerala told CSE.
An anticyclone, like the name suggests, is the opposite of a cyclone in the sense that while in a cyclone the wind is directed towards a low-pressure area, in an anticyclone situation, the wind moves out of a high-pressure area.
In India, at least 17,000 people died due to heat waves from 1971 to 2019, according to a study. Heat waves also adversely affected agriculture in terms of yields. The present conditions have impacted wheat — a Rabi crop — across Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Many farmers, according to CSE, have reported 20-60 per cent losses in these states.
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