India Meteorological Department's director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on May 27 said that heat wave conditions over northwest India and adjoining areas, which includes Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, may gradually reduce from May 30 onwards.
The met department said severe heatwave conditions can prevail over northwest and adjoining regions of the country for the next three days. From Thursday, heatwave conditions may start reducing, it said.
On May 26, IMD issued a red alert for heatwave conditions in several northern states, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana, while it predicted heavy rainfall in Kerala till May 29.
On May 27, Mungeshpur area recorded the highest temperature in Delhi at 48.8 degrees Celsius.
For the month of June 2024, IMD predicted above-normal heatwave days over most areas in the northwest of the country as well as neighbouring regions in north central India.
Also read: IMD predicts monsoon to hit Kerala within 5 days
Mohapatra said that these areas may see an increase in the frequency of heat wave days in June by two to three more days versus the ongoing month of May. This could push up the total number of heat wave days in these regions to 4-6 days next month.
The department forecasts maximum temperatures to be normal to above normal in most parts of the country in June with less rainfall activity in northwestern parts of India.
Moreover, the IMD boss said that above normal rainfall is likely in the country as a whole during monsoon season (June to September 2024), adding that conditions are favourable for onset of monsoon over Kerala in the next five days.
Also read: IMD forecasts normal to above normal monsoon between July to September
Given that La Nina conditions may develop by the start of August, Mohapatra expects more rainfall around September.
A transition from El Nino to ENSO-neutral is imminent with ENSO-neutral favoured in April-June and May-July 2024. La Nina may develop in June-August (49 percent chance) or July-September (69 percent chance), the weather agency said in a presentation on May 27.
La Nina, which means "Little Girl," in Spanish is a weather condition characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. For India, this phenomenon is usually associated with good rainfall during the monsoon season.
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