After April heat, expect showers in May 1st week

Nagpur: This year, the city has already seen one of the warmest February in a decade and the warmest March since 2010. The trend continued with April 2016 being the warmest since 2010 with the maximum temperature touching 45 degrees Celsius. Last month also happened to be the coolest April since 2011. Last Thursday, too, the maximum temperature in the city touched 45 degrees Celsius, before it turned cloudy. This was the highest that the mercury had risen in April since 2010, when the highest maximum temperature for the month was 45.2 degrees Celsius. According to the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD), the heatwave prevailing in the region will continue till Sunday before giving way to cloudy weather and rains in the next week. “There has been very little rainfall despite it being cloudy for a large part of April. Though thunderstorm and light rains occurred in parts of Vidarbha for the last one week, heatwave prevailed at other parts,” said an official of the regional meteorology centre of IMD in the city. He added that after remaining around 45 degrees Celsius for a couple of days, the temperatures in the region will drop a couple of degrees as the skies become overcast again. The official also said that the cyclonic circulation over

Madhya Pradesh

is expected to bring rains to the region in the next week. “This will bring in some brief relief during the month in which summer and hot winds peak up in Vidarbha. More such systems occurring intermittently through the year will help lower the effect of the hot winds called ‘loo’ which blow during May,” he said. If the trend of the year being warmer than most others continues, the mercury may rise up to 48 degrees Celsius in the next couple of weeks, he added. Usually, the maximum temperature of Nagpur in April is between 39 and 42 degrees Celsius. This time though the maximum temperatures was upward of 43 degree Celsius for most part of the month. The minimum temperature of the city was in the range of 19 and 28 degrees Celsius, while it usually ranges between 22 and 26 degrees Celsius. Despite being cloudy for most part, the actual rainfall for April 2016 was around 2mm, much lower than the usual 7.8mm. Nagpur’s maximum temperature on Saturday was the highest in the region for the day while the lowest was 40 degrees Celsius at Washim. Among the minimum temperatures of the day, the highest was Akola’s 30 degrees Celsius while the lowest was 25 degrees Celsius of Gondia. INFOBOX Head: MERCURY HIT BOX 1: EXTREMES FOR APRIL 2016 Highest maximum temperature | 45 (April 21, 30) Lowest maximum temperature | 38.8 (April 6) Highest minimum temperature | 28.5 (April 20) Lowest minimum temperature | 19.4 (April 1) Monthly rainfall | 2.2 (April 7) BOX 2: EXTREMES IN MAY Highest maximum temperature | 47.9° C (2013) Lowest minimum temperature | 19.4° C (1917) Highest monthly rainfall | 164.6mm (1926) Heaviest rainfall in 24 hours | 58.7mm (May 5, 1966) BOX 3: APRIL TEMP IN LAST FEW YEARS YEAR --- HM --- LM 2015 ---- 44.5 --- 17.3 2014 ---- 43.7 --- 19.9 2013 ---- 44.7 --- 20.1 2012 ---- 43.2 --- 21.8 2011 ---- 41.2 --- 19.0 2010 ---- 45.2 --- 21.3 (HM: Highest max. LM: Lowest minimum. Temperature in degree Celsius)

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