No Rains before 10th, Zero Respite From The Killing Summer

April 4, 2017

With the blistering heat looming over Pune, the past few weeks have seen the city’s hottest march of the decade. Maharashtra has already reported three deaths of severe heat stroke. As the state works on an action plan to rein this summer, Puneites struggle to cope with the extreme weather conditions.

“The heat is really bad. It is taking a serious toll on my health. I get dehydrated very easily and my nose starts bleeding. It also affects my digestion as I cannot eat heavy food,” says Mira Matthew, a student in the city.

Another parent expresses her concern for her school-going child, “I make sure that my child stays hydrated. I add khus roots to drinking water. Between 11 am to 4 pm the sun is very strong so I make sure he goes out to play only in the evenings.”

Sunitha Devi, Head of the Weather Section at the Indian Meteorological Department explains that there could be various factors as to the drastic change in temperatures “The factors range from local changes such as changes in the land surface, diminishing foliage to planetary scale features such as a changed atmospheric wind pattern due to sea surface warming.

The current situation had an anti-cyclonic wind circulation stay-put over the region for four to five days, which via suppressing cloud formation permitted maximum insolation to heat up the area.

Though, not in the past 10 years, there have been events of Pune recording 40 degree Celsius on March 17, 2004 and March 31, 1999.”

Should we expect such weather in Pune more often?

“There are no well-established findings that this may recur more often. But one thing is certain, that the discomfort level during the summers would increase over the city due to rapid urbanisation and concretisation,” adds Devi.

With over 40 degree Celsius experienced recently, it may take some more time for monsoons to approach the city; Devi clarifies that due to lack of cloud formation, we can not expect showers in the city before April 10.