Heatwave is about to end in India, except for West Rajasthan: IMD

New Delhi: Heat wave conditions are about to end in India with the exception of one region, a Met Department official said on Thursday.

"Heatwave is about to end from the entire country. Only in West Rajasthan & Kerala heatwave alert has been issued. Tomorrow, the heatwave will only be present in West Rajasthan. We have issued it with a yellow alert because we don't have a lot of hope for the impact," ANI quoted Indian Meteorological Department's scientist Soma Sen as saying.

Strong moisture flow is coming to the country from the Bay of Bengal, due to which thunderstorm activity is increasing in the country...There will be a possibility of cloud-to-ground lightning in these thunderstorms," she said.

As per IMD, a region undergoes a heatwave if the maximum temperature reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius or more for plains and at least 30 degrees Celsius or more for Hilly regions. Qualitatively speaking, heatwave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to human body when exposed, IMD says.

As predicted earlier by the IMD, heatwave to severe heatwave conditions have taken grip in various parts of India in recent months.

Some parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Telangana saw maximum temperatures settling 3-5 degrees Celsius above normal.

The mercury settled above 44 degrees Celsius in at least 10 places in these states last week.

Prior to that, the Met Department had said that above-normal maximum temperatures were likely over most parts of the country in May and a significantly high number of heatwave days expected over the northern plains, central region and adjoining areas of peninsular India.

April witnessed record-smashing maximum temperatures in east, northeast and south peninsular India, prompting health warnings from government agencies and some states to suspend in-person classes in schools.

The IMD data shows that heat waves this April were far worse than in 2023, the warmest year on record so far.