New Delhi Feb 28 (IANS) The pre-monsoon months this year -- March April and May -- will be warmer than normal and the heat wave will hit 16 states apart from Delhi earlier due to various reasons the IMD said on Wednesday.
It said the average temperature will be at least 1 degree Celcius higher than what was prevalent in the previous summers in most of the regions across India. In certain regions in the south the temperature rise could be 0.5 degree.
"The heat wave will hit us for sure especially the core heat zone that includes Delhi and other states. The temperature variations will differ from region to region " India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Dr K.J. Ramesh told IANS.
Heat wave occurs when mercury shoots five degrees above normal.
The regions falling under the core heat wave zone are Delhi Punjab Haryana Rajasthan Himachal Pradesh Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Bihar Jharkhand West Bengal Orissa and Telangana and meteorological subdivisions of Marathwada Vidarbha central Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The IMD predicts about 52 per cent probability of above-normal maximum temperature in the core heat wave zone.
The Met office said regions likely to be warmer by at least 1 degree are Delhi Punjab Haryana Chandigarh Jammu and Kashmir Himachal Pradesh west and east Rajasthan Uttarakhand west and east Uttar Pradesh west and east Madhya Pradesh Bihar Jharkhand Chhattisgarh Vidarbha (Maharashtra) Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.
Temperature increase lesser than 0.5 degree will be witnessed in Kerala Tamil Nadu north and south interior Karnataka Rayalaseema coastal Andhra Pradesh Odisha Nagaland Manipur Mizoram and Tripura.
The remaining subdivisions are likely to experience warmer summer variations between 0.5 and 1 degree the IMD said.
--IANS
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