Hat Trick Of Heat Wave In Pune, No Relief Likely

Landlocked subdivisions of Maharashtra are bearing enormous heat, with mercury jumping to 44°C at Nagpur, Wardha and Amraoti. Further, the surface temperature breached 45°C at Chandrapur and Akola. The highest temperature of 45.9°C over the country was registered at Bramhapuri. No immediate relief is likely.

Madhya Maharashtra has also been experiencing extreme heat, albeit a shade less than Vidarbha and Marathwada. Jalgaon, Malegaon, Nandurbar and Jeur exceeded 43°C during the past 24 hours.

Closer to the Konkan Coast, on the lee side of the Western Ghats, Pune recorded a hat trick of heat waves. The Lohegaon airport of the sprawling city exceeded the 43°C mark for the third consecutive day.

The airport observatory has recorded temperatures of 43.2°C, 43.6°C, and 43.2°C over the last three days.

The scorching temperatures are more than 5°C above the normal and amount to heat wave conditions. These are also the highest temperatures for the city this season so far. The mercury may shoot up to 44°C today.

Konkan & Madhya Maharashtra have been swept by persistent hot winds. The anticyclonic curvature is blowing hot northwesterly winds from Sind-Pakistan & Gujarat, turning northerly from the parched land of North Madhya Maharashtra on the lee side of the Ghats, and finally dumping into the Arabian Sea as a northeasterly stream.

These withering winds have made the tech city of Pune swelter under extreme heat. The pattern is unlikely to change, and the heat wave is expected to continue through the weekend.

As a routine, Pune observes searing temperatures in April and May. Mercury in excess of 40°C is a regular feature. Long spells of heat invariably get interrupted by some stray pre-monsoon showers. However, the city has not witnessed any such activity for the last three weeks. No significant pre-monsoon rain showers are likely for the next one week and hot conditions are expected to prevail.