Large parts of northern India, including Haryana and Delhi, faced severe heatwave conditions with the maximum temperature reaching 47.4 degrees Celsius in Najafgarh, making it the highest in the country on Monday, May 20. Temperatures soared above 45 degrees Celsius across many regions in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Uttar Pradesh, disrupting daily life as many residents opted to stay indoors during the afternoon.
According to reports, the intense heat also put a significant strain on low-income households, which often have limited access to water and cooling, and challenged outdoor workers who had to endure the scorching sun, forcing them to take frequent breaks.
Delhi reels under heatwave
On Monday the national capital experienced the second-highest maximum temperature, 3.7 degrees above normal. The weather office also issued a red alert for the next five days due to heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in the national capital. Meanwhile, several state governments have asked schools to declare holidays for a few days due but have provided the option of online classes.
Check temperatures of several parts in Delhi
Najafgarh: 47.4 degrees Celsius
Mungeshpur: 47.1 degrees Celsius
Aya Nagar: 45.7 degrees Celsius
Pusa: 46.1 degrees Celsius
Pitampura: 46.6 degrees Celsius
Delhi govt orders closure of all schools amid heatwave
The Delhi government directed the schools that have not closed for summer vacations to do so with immediate effect. In a circular, the city government's Directorate of Education said all schools were directed to observe summer vacation from May 11 to June 30 for this academic year. In Delhi, the searing heat also pushed the city's peak power demand to its highest for May. Realtime data from the State Load Dispatch Centre, Delhi, showed the peak power demand at 7,572 MW at 3:33 pm. This was the highest-ever peak power demand for Delhi in May. It was also higher than the peak power demand recorded last year -- 7,438 MW -- on August 22.
Criteria to determine heatwave and severe heatwave
The IMD had earlier warned of extreme heat in India during the April-June period, coinciding with the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections that end on June 1. The threshold for a heatwave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in the coastal areas, and 30 degrees in the hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches. A severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal exceeds 6.4 notches.
(With PTI inputs)
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