Heat wave to reach Jammu early May: MeT

Heat wave to reach Jammu early May: MeT
Temperature rises 8 degrees in past 11 days
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
With the rise in temperature, the weathermen have forecast a heat wave that is expected to reach Jammu in the initial days of May.

In the past 11 days, temperature in Jammu has gone up by 8°C. On April 19, the city’s maximum temperature was recorded at 30°C and yesterday it reached up to 38°C.

“The temperature is expected to cross 40°C in the first week of May. The mercury is rising with every passing day and the residents are advised to take adequate precautions to beat the heat this summer,” said an official of the Meteorological Department.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 9.8°C on April 8 and the maximum temperature was 38.6°C on April 25, making it the day hottest so far. “In the coming days, we are expecting a clear sky and rise in temperatures, which will help the farmers of the region,” said the official.

He said the mercury had been rising steadily for the past few days and this trend would continue. “The coming days will be hotter as we are expecting some dry heat in the northern region of the country,” he added.

“We had not expected such a hot weather in April, as the first half of the month was quite pleasant. I was expecting the remaining days of the month to be cool, but we found hard to bear the heat since Monday, without an air conditioner,” said Amrinder Singh, a resident of Gandhi Nagar, here.

He added that, “The sudden change in weather is creating hurdles for schoolchildren, housewives and shopkeepers, who find it difficult to go out during the day”. Meanwhile, the unscheduled power cuts have also started to haunt the residents in both metered and non-metered areas.

The climate was almost similar in the Kathua, Samba, RS Pura and other plain areas of the Jammu region. Even the hilly areas of the region, including Udhampur, Reasi, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Kishtwar, were facing long dry spells, as in the past few days there had been no rain across the region.