Zeenews Bureau
Shimla: North India is reeling under searing heat. Its just the first week of April but the heat has already made its mark in the country. The soaring mercury touched an all-time season high of 42.4 degrees Celsius recently, and the Met department has already predicted tough days ahead with temperatures rising above 43 degrees for the entire North region.
Shimla, fondly known as the queen of hills, experienced its second hottest March since 1901 this year. `Both the minimum and maximum temperatures were above normal this March,` said Manmohan Singh, Director of the Meteorological office on Tuesday.
He said the highest temperature (25.8 degrees Celsius) was recorded March 23, making it the warmest day the Queen of Hills experienced since 2004. The all-time high since 1901 was recorded March 27, 2004, when the maximum was 27.2 degrees Celsius.
`In the beginning of March, the temperatures were near normal but started rising in the second week. The trend continued till the end of the month and on certain days the temperatures were nine to 10 degrees above normal,` he said.
He attributed the unusual rise in temperatures to the dominance of westerly and southerly winds, in the normally prevalent north-westerly to northerly winds.
`Since 1969, for four years the maximum temperatures were 25 degrees Celsius or more in March ` he said.
According to the Met director, against the normal rainfall of 61 mm in March, the rainfall was only 4.1 mm last month. `March 2004, however, was totally dry. The highest ever precipitation recorded in Shimla was 231.4 mm in March 1911.`
Delhi records hottest March day in 6 years
The scenario is also grim in the national capital. As temperatures shoot high, so do the power cuts. Frequent load shedding, heat wave and humidity have multiplied people`s woes.
As if this is not enough, the water problem also seems knocking on the doors of the Delhites. The water supply seems erratic for the already suffering Delihites, as temperatures rise this summer.
On the 21st, Delhi recorded the hottest day of March in the past six years at 39.2 degrees Celsius.
"The maximum temperature in the capital soared to 39.2 degrees Celsius, seven notches above the average. This is the hottest day reported in the month of March in the past six years," the official said.
The minimum temperature was 19.5 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the average for this time of the season. A day earlier, Delhi recorded a maximum of 36.1 degrees Celsius.
On March 23, 2004, Delhi recorded the hottest day in the month of March when maximum temperature settled at 39.2 degrees Celsius, while on March 31, 1945, the capital recorded an all-time high of 40.6 degrees Celsius.
(With Agency Inputs)
