PUNE: Pune’s day temperatures during the last two days have been nearing the all-time temperature extremes for the month of April since 1901.
All locations in Pune recorded their hottest April day on Thursday. In Shivajinagar and Pashan, the temperature rose to 41.8°C, while Lohegaon recorded 41.7°C. However, Chinchwad and Koregaon Park recorded a scorcher with the temperature soaring to 43.6°C in Chinchwad and 44.2°C in KP.
Thursday was also the hottest April day for Shivajinagar after 2019, as the location had recorded 43°C on April 29 that year.
At least 13 locations in Maharashtra recorded more than 43°C temperatures on Thursday, among the highest for any state in India. Jalgaon registered a sizzling 45.6°C — the third highest day temperature in the country after Daltonganj in Jharkhand (45.8°C) and Ganganagar in west Rajasthan (45.7°C).
KS Hosalikar, head, Climate Research and Services, IMD Pune, told TOI, "Public should take due precautions, as heat wave to near heat wave conditions are prevailing in parts of Maharashtra. IMD has been issuing health and high temperature warnings regularly. People must follow these alerts closely."
He said, "Even if there is no heat wave alert for a region, "heat-wave-like" conditions are prevailing and citizens should observe how they individually respond to such temperatures. They should this take due precaution, in terms of modifying the time of day they step out, being hydrated even when not thirsty, wearing cool clothes etc."
Hosalikar said that both scenarios can be very uncomfortable for citizens: places with high humidity where temperatures are 35+ deg C as well as those where temperatures are 40+ degrees C with dry weather (like Pune).
"Senior citizens, those with comorbidities and children are most vulnerable to such temperature extremes. So are workers who work in fields in hot afternoons, those staying in tin houses as well as women who cook before wooden stoves in such structures. Such groups are exposed to extreme heat generated not only from the surrounding air, but also within such structures," Hosalikar said.
Hosalikar said that an upper air anticyclone is compressing the air, causing it to move downwards, leading to unusually high day temperatures. "Hot winds are also blowing into parts of Maharashtra from hotter regions of Northwest India," he said.
