March and April were the hottest months in the past 100 years and May has also been warmer than normal with severe heat conditions prevailing in many parts of North India, the Indian meteorological department (IMD) said on Friday.
In its weekly forecast report, the IMD said its preliminary analysis of data indicates that mean monthly temperature of March and April are the highest during the last 100 years.
“The month of May has also been warmer than normal with severe heat wave conditions prevailing in many parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and heat wave conditions in remaining parts of northwest and Central India,” the IMD said.
Most parts of north India, including Delhi, have been experiencing intense heat conditions for the past two months and maximum temperature has crossed 45 degree Celsius on many occasions.
It said this summer has been severe with heave wave conditions prevailing over many parts of northwest and central India.
The IMD analysis comes close on the heels of Nasa saying global temperatures have been steadily rising since the late 1970s with no significant let-up in the trend. The draft paper released by Nasa says the overall warming trend has held through this decade.
“That there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.20 degrees Celsius per decade that began in the late 1970s,” the report said.
—PTI