Intense heat wave in east India to continue for another 5 days: IMD

PTI

New Delhi, April 22

The intense heat wave scorching large parts of east India will continue for another five days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday.

The ongoing spell of heat wave, the second this month, is scorching parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Heatwave conditions have been prevailing in Odisha since April 15 and the Gangetic West Bengal since April 17, according to the MeT department.

In a statement, the IMD said heat wave to severe heat wave conditions are expected in parts of West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand during the next five days.

High humidity could add to people's inconvenience in coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, West Bengal and Bihar, it said.

Substantially high night temperatures are likely in east Madhya Pradesh on April 22 and April 23. High night temperatures are considered dangerous because the body doesn't get the chance to cool down.

Increasing nighttime heat is even more common in cities because of the urban heat island effect, in which metro areas are significantly hotter than their surroundings.

The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in the coastal areas and 30 degrees in the hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.

A severe heat wave is declared if the departure from normal temperature exceeds 6.4 notches.

Amid the prevailing but weakening El Nino conditions, the IMD had earlier warned of extreme heat during the April-June period when around a billion people are expected to exercise their franchise during the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, heightening concerns about vulnerability to heat waves.

Voting for the first phase of elections took place on April 19. The second phase of polling is scheduled for April 26. 

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