No winter yet in Bengaluru, brace for a harsh summer

This was probably a rare Christmas for those who attended midnight Mass: they did not wear winter clothing for the late-night service, or shiver on their way back home.
Winter, says the weatherman, is yet to set into Bengaluru. After the driest October yet, Bengaluru is well into its warmest December.
For the first time in the past 10 years, the highest temperature was recorded on December 13, 2015: 30.9 degree Celsius.The average temperature in December is 25-29 degree Celsius.
Observations at the India Meteorological Department, Bengaluru, show winter setting in only by January 1 and prevailing till February 28. As per the Hindu calendar and astrological predictions, winter concludes after Makara Sankranti, the harvest festival in mid-January. However, according to the weatherman, winter would have just set in by Sankranti in 2016. The all-time high December temperature (of 30.9 degree) almost equals the 31.1-degree record of December 18, 1926. “After that, the next highest is in 2015. The rise in temperature is due to low-pressure areas in the Bay of Bengal and the South Andaman Sea,“ says a senior official from the Met department.
Ramesh Babu, director-in-charge, Met department, told STOI the winds are still northeasterly and winter may set in within 3-4 days. “It's not yet winter, and cold weather conditions have still not set in. The typical winter clouding pattern is not yet seen.“ It has been a year of changing weather for Bengaluru. October was the driest with just 41 mm of rain, in sharp contrast to 320 mm in October 2014. And if winter isn't here yet, spring and summer could take time coming too. The summer of 2016 promises to be hot and harsh.
University of Agricultural Sciences agrometeorologist MB Rajegowda says a warm winter means we are heading towards one of the worst summers ever. “Winter has been delayed.The intensity of cold is going to be very low, and we might not even feel the bite as it is not on par with previous years.The absence of severe cold leads to enhanced demand for water. Water absorption from soil increases, and that further hits us with extreme summer days ahead,“ he notes.