New Delhi:

India experienced 536 heatwave days this summer, the highest in 14 years, with the northwestern region recording its warmest June last month since 1901, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday.

The country recorded 181 heatwave days in June, the highest after 177 days in 2010, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said at a virtual press conference.

“In 2024 summer, India experienced a total of 536 heatwave days, the highest after 2010 (578 days). In June, it experienced 181 heatwave days, surpassing 2010 (177 days),” he added.

Mohapatra said the monthly average maximum temperature in northwest India settled at 38.02 degrees Celsius, 1.96 degrees Celsius above normal. The average minimum temperature stood at 25.44 degrees Celsius, 1.35 degrees Celsius above normal.

Northwest India recorded a mean temperature of 31.73 degrees Celsius in June, 1.65 degrees Celsius above normal and the highest since 1901.

Northeast India recorded a 33-per cent rainfall deficit in June, which Mohapatra attributed to the sluggish advance of monsoon over the northern and eastern parts of the country due to a lack of weather systems.

“Only one low-pressure area developed towards the end of June. Normally, we get three low-pressure systems. The Madden-Julian Oscillation was not favourable and therefore, we could not get enhanced convection and low-pressure systems,” he said.

The absence of active western disturbances, mainly during the June 10 to June 19 period, was also a reason for the longer dry spell and heatwave prevailing over northwest and central India.

Mohapatra said only three western disturbances, against a normal of four to five, were observed across north India (June 5-10, June 19-25 and June 26-28).

India recorded more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and over 100 heat-related deaths in one of its hottest and longest heatwaves. The intense heat overwhelmed the water supply system and power grids, with Delhi grappling with a severe water crisis.

According to the IMD, around 40 per cent of the country recorded double the number of heatwave days than usual during the April-to-June period. Temperatures breached 50 degrees Celsius in parts of Rajasthan, with night-time temperatures hovering around 35 degrees Celsius at many places.

In Delhi, which logged 40 consecutive days of temperatures of above 40 degrees Celsius since May 13, there have been around 60 heat-related deaths this year, according to media reports.

The IMD had earlier predicted 10 to 20 heatwave days during the summer season against the normal of four to eight days.

In contrast, 20 to 38 heatwave days were recorded in different parts of east, north and central India, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Gujarat.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The grid met a record peak load of 250 million kilowatts on May 30, which shattered the previous record of 240 million kilowatts set in September 2023.  File
| Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH K

India’s electricity grid has remained stable despite a record-shattering heatwave in May, demonstrating a high degree of technical skill and avoiding embarrassing blackouts during the election period.

Daily temperatures in the New Delhi suburb of Palam have averaged a seasonal record 35.1°C so far in May, up from 30.1°C in May 2023 and a long-term seasonal average of 33.3°C. The exceptionally high temperature is likely to have increased the demand for air conditioning and refrigeration to record or near-record levels for the time of year.

The grid met a record peak load of 246 million kilowatts on May 29 and then 250 million kilowatts on May 30, shattering the previous record of 240 million kilowatts set in September 2023. But the transmission system has been unusually stable throughout the heatwave – more stable than in other periods when demand was considerably lower.

Transmission frequency fell below the minimum acceptable target of 49.9 cycles per second (Hertz) for just 2.3% of the time in the first 30 days of the month. This has been the grid’s best monthly performance for more than two years, despite the enormous extra demands imposed by the heatwave.

By contrast, the frequency was below target 9.8% of the time in May 2023 and May 2022, according to reliability reports published by the Grid Controller of India.

Keeping up with the booming demand

Frequency is the simplest and most commonly employed measure of power quality and reliability; controllers endeavour to keep it steady and very close to target at all times. Frequency above target (“over-frequency”) is a sign that there is excess generation connected to the network compared with the load. Frequency below target (“under-frequency”) signals the opposite.

Repeated and prolonged periods of under-frequency are a sign the grid is struggling to meet demand; they increase the risk of cascading failure, forcible customer disconnections and uncontrolled blackouts.

In the autumn of 2021 and again in the spring of 2022, coal shortages meant many power generators were unable to start up in response to instructions from the grid. The result was electricity shortages, prolonged and severe under-frequency, imposition of rotating power cuts, and uncontrolled blackouts across the country.

Since then, the government has attempted to prevent a repeat by prioritising coal movements across the rail network and accumulating large coal inventories on-site at power generators. But grid controllers also seem to have ensured reliability this month by scheduling an abundance of generation to give themselves an extra reserve margin.

Unusually for India, where booming demand and insufficient generation more often mean average daily frequency falls below target, the frequency was above target on 22 of 30 days so far this month. The grid frequency in the first 30 days of May was the highest for any month in more than two years, despite the heatwave.

Controllers seem to have been scheduling too much generation to ensure they had an extra margin in case the demand was higher than predicted. Systematic over-frequency is costly as extra fuel is consumed, but it also buys an increase in reliability and reduced risk of power cuts.

By scheduling as much generation as possible the transmission system kept air conditioners running through the heatwave and the election period.

Heatwave conditions are likely to reel over most parts of the country on June 3, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

“Heatwave conditions are very likely in isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, Jammu division, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha on June 3,” said the weather bulletin.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a meeting to review the situation of the ongoing heatwave in the country and the preparedness for the onset of monsoon.

The Prime Minister was briefed that as per IMD forecasts, the heat wave is likely to continue in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

This year, the monsoon is likely to be normal and above normal in most parts of the country and below normal in parts of Peninsular India, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated.

“Fire audit and electrical safety audit of hospitals and other public places must be undertaken regularly,” PM Modi instructed.

He also said that regular drills for the maintenance of firelines in forests and productive utilization of biomass must be planned.

The Prime Minister was informed about the usefulness of the “van agni” portal in the timely identification of forest fires and their management.

With scorching heatwaves gripping several parts of the country, at least 56 deaths from heatstroke have been confirmed in multiple states by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), sources said on Saturday.

The Southwest Monsoon hit the coast of Kerala and advanced into parts of northeast India from Thursday, said the Indian Meteorological Department.

This year’s Monsoon onset is two days earlier as the usual date of the onset is on June 1.

This year, Kerala experienced widespread pre-monsoon rains.

In 2023, rainfall over the country as a whole during the monsoon season (June-September), was 94 per cent of its long-period average.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia File
| Photo Credit: NHAC NGUYEN

More than 100 temperature records fell across Vietnam in April, according to official data, as a deadly heatwave scorches South and Southeast Asia.

Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain.

Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change will produce more frequent, longer and intense heatwaves.

Vietnam saw three waves of high temperatures in April, according to data published on May 3 by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, with the mercury peaking at 44 degrees Celsius in two towns earlier this week.

In all, 102 weather stations saw record highs in April, as northern and central Vietnam bore the brunt of the heatwave, with temperatures on average 2-4 degrees Celsius higher than during the same period last year. Seven stations recorded temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius, all on April 30.

The most dramatic sign of the extreme weather hitting Vietnam came in the southern province of Dong Nai, where hundreds of thousands of fish died in a reservoir.

Images showed locals wading and boating through the 300-hectare Song May reservoir, with the water barely visible beneath a blanket of dead fish.

The mass die-off was blamed on water shortages caused by the heatwave and poor management.

The Vietnamese weather agency is predicting more hot weather in May, with temperatures expected to be 1.5 to 2.5 degrees higher than in previous years.

El Nino effect

While April and May are normally the hottest time of year in Southeast Asia, experts say the El Nino effect is making this year’s heat particularly intense.

Bangladesh and Myanmar saw April heat records broken, heatstroke has killed at least 30 people in Thailand since the start of the year, and high temperatures were partly blamed for a deadly explosion at a Cambodian ammunition dump.

Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines are urging the faithful to pray for rain and lower temperatures, after the heat forced the government to close tens of thousands of schools.

The Indian megacity of Kolkata has sweltered through punishing heat, peaking at 43 degrees Celsius for the city’s hottest single April day since 1954.

Even mountainous Nepal has been hit, with the government issuing health warnings last week and firefighters battling unusually severe wildfires.

A woman covers her head for protection against the scorching sun on a hot summer day, in Kolkata, on May 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The searing April temperatures were the highest over eastern and northeastern (E&NE) India and the second highest over south India since 1901, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a press conference on Wednesday.

These record-breaking temperatures were due to the combined effect of a prevailing El Nino and a weather system — called an “anticyclone” — that blocked moisture-laden sea breeze from the Bay of Bengal, which in other years brought rainfall and eased temperatures, said M. Mohapatra, Director-General, IMD.

Average temperatures over E&NE India were 28.1 degrees Celsius and max temperatures at 34 degrees Celsius, both nearly or two degrees above what’s typical for the month.

Some places also witnessed anomalous increases in temperature; for instance, Panagarh in West Bengal recorded 45.6 degrees Celsius, which was 10 degrees above normal and Kalaikunda, also in West Bengal, registered 47.2 degrees Celsius – 10.4 degrees above normal.

Also read: Warming of Indian Ocean to accelerate: IITM study

In southern peninsular India, average temperatures were as high as 37.25 degrees Celsius or about 1.35 degrees above normal. This was only slightly below the 37.57 degrees Celsius recorded in 2016 – the all-time high since 1901.

Odisha saw as many as 18 heatwave days and West Bengal 16 while Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala saw eight, seven and five days respectively. India’s 36 meteorological subdivisions (as defined by the IMD for weather and climate-based analysis) cumulatively see 71 heatwave days on average during April. This April, they saw 118 – the third highest since 2010. April 2022 saw 198 heatwave days and April 2010 saw 337 such days.

In contrast, north-western India did not see any heatwave day on account of regular incursions of “western disturbances” which are spells of rain that originate from Central Asia.

The hot conditions are likely to persist through most of May over most of India and this time, northwestern States/Union Territories such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi are also expected to register more than their usual quota of heatwaves, the agency predicted.

Since last June, the globe has broken heat records each month, with marine heat waves across large areas of the globe’s oceans contributing. File
| Photo Credit: AP

For the tenth consecutive month, Earth in March set a new monthly record for global heat — with both air temperatures and the world’s oceans hitting an all-time high for the month, the European Union climate agency Copernicus said.

March 2024 averaged 14.14 degrees Celsius, exceeding the previous record from 2016 by a tenth of a degree, according to Copernicus data. And it was 1.68 degrees C warmer than in the late 1800s, the base used for temperatures before the burning of fossil fuels began growing rapidly.

Since last June, the globe has broken heat records each month, with marine heat waves across large areas of the globe’s oceans contributing.

Scientists say the record-breaking heat during this time wasn’t entirely surprising due to a strong El Nino, a climatic condition that warms the central Pacific and changes global weather patterns. “But its combination with the non-natural marine heat waves made these records so breathtaking,” said Woodwell Climate Research Center scientist Jennifer Francis.

Also read: Explained | How El Nino could impact the world’s weather in 2023-24

With El Nino waning, the margins by which global average temperatures are surpassed each month should go down, Ms. Francis said.

Climate scientists attribute most of the record heat to human-caused climate change from carbon dioxide and methane emissions produced by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

“The trajectory will not change until concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop rising,” Ms. Francis said, “which means we must stop burning fossil fuels, stop deforestation, and grow our food more sustainably as quickly as possible.” Until then, expect more broken records, she said.

‘Trajectory is not in the right direction’

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world set a goal to keep warming at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. Copernicus’ temperature data is monthly and uses a slightly different measurement system than the Paris threshold, which is averaged over two or three decades.

Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, said March’s record-breaking temperature was not as exceptional as some other months in the past year that broke records by wider margins. “We’ve had record-breaking months that have been even more unusual,” Ms. Burgess said, pointing to February 2024 and September 2023. But the “trajectory is not in the right direction,” she added.

The globe has now experienced 12 months with average monthly temperatures 1.58 degrees Celsius above the Paris threshold, according to Copernicus data.

In March, global sea surface temperature averaged 21.07 degrees Celsius (69.93 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest monthly value on record and slightly higher than what was recorded in February. “We need more ambitious global action to ensure that we can get to net zero as soon as possible,” Ms. Burgess said.