NEW DELHI: India is likely to experience a warmer summer this year with El Nino conditions predicted to continue at least until May, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.
More heatwave days than normal are predicted over northeast peninsular India – Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and north interior Karnataka – and many parts of Maharashtra and Odisha, it said. The country is likely to record above-normal rainfall in March (more than 117 per cent of the long-period average of 29.9 mm).
India is likely to see above-normal maximum and minimum temperatures in most parts of the country in the March to May period, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said at a press conference.
Heatwave conditions are not expected over north and central India in March, he said. Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May.
Mohapatra said the prevailing El Nino conditions -- the periodic warming of waters in the central Pacific Ocean -- will continue through the summer and neutral conditions are likely to develop thereafter.
La Nina conditions -- generally associated with good monsoon rainfall in India -- are likely to set in by the second half of the monsoon season. The IMD chief also said India recorded an average minimum temperature of 14.61 degrees Celsius in February, the second highest in the month since 1901.