India experiences hottest April ever as wildfires expand, air quality worsens
By
Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published May 1, 2022 12:08 PM EST
|
Updated May 3, 2022 8:09 AM EST
A massive fire that engulfed a landfill on the edge of a New Delhi neighborhood poured smoke into the air for days, making the air quality of an already polluted city even worse.
Temperatures soared across India in April, as the country concluded the month with a notable heatwave. The record-breaking heat has contributed to an increase in wildfires and worsening air quality across the country over the past week.
While India is no stranger to heat, the past month has been more extreme than most, and experts say that two areas of India have just experienced their hottest April ever.
The Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Mrutyunjay Mohaptra, told Reuters that northwest and central India recored average max temperatures of 96.6 F and 100 F (35.9 and 37.78 C) respectively in April. These values are the highest ever recorded for each region since historical records began in 1900.
New Delhi was among one of the affected cities, ending the month approximately 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) above the norm. Only two days of the entire month failed to reach or surpass 100 F(38 C).
The most extreme temperatures were experienced in the final days of April, when the thermometer readings reached or surpassed 110 degrees F the final three days. On Saturday, April 30, New Delhi hit 112 F, the highest of the entire month, but fell just shy of the city's April record. The all-time record high temperature for April in New Delhi is 114.1 F (45.6 C), according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls.
A boy drinks soda at a promenade on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
This data surfaces following an exceptionally warm March, what the meteorologists at the IMD called the hottest March for India as a whole since 1901. March 2022's average high temperature was 3.35 degrees F (1.86 Celsius) above the climatological average.
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Electricity shortages have also been a result of the heat, which has brought an increase in demand for power across India as residents try to keep cool. At least three Indian states have imposed power cuts on industrial activity, according to Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned last week that the number of wildfires across the country was on the rise. One notable fire was a blaze that broke out at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, on Tuesday, April 26. The landfill continued to burn as of Sunday, but was under control, according to the Times of India. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
A firefighter uses his mobile phone as he sits on top of a fire truck as smoke billows from burning garbage at the Bhalswa landfill site in New Delhi, India, April 27, 2022. (Photo/REUTERS)
The fire forced a nearby school to close on Tuesday. The institution, Gyan Sarovar School, reported last Wednesday that it would be closed for at least a week. The director of the foundation that runs the school, Father Santhosh, said the thick layer of smoke was making it difficult for the children to breath. There were also reports that the heat of the fire caused the class of the window panes to melt.
Residents had also filed a formal complaint with local police, demanding action. Poisonous fumes from the fire were entering homes and risking those living nearby with worsening the air quality so much that many were having breathing issues.
Forest fires began nearby over the past week, spreading across the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) said more than 7,800 hotspots where forest fires had started in just three days across the country, including 277 large fires on Friday.
The above image shows active fires on Sunday, May 1, as detected by satellite. (Photo/NASA FIRMS)
The extreme heat, especially during the last few days of April, has continued to dry out any brush, making it even more flammable should a fire start.
FSI data showed that a record number of fires have been reported since January, compared to those over the past two years. The majority of the fires sparked in April.
While the blistering heatwave has already started to wane, enough damage has been done due to extreme temperatures to allow poor air quality and the heightened risk for fires to continue.
Pakistan has also been experiencing the extreme heat. The country's Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, said on Saturday that Pakistan went from winter to summer, without much of a spring, for the first time in decades.
On Thursday, April 28, the hottest location on Earth was Jacobabad, Pakistan, which measured a high temperature of 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius). Residents across the country did whatever they could to stay cool, taking shelter in the shade and dousing themselves in cool water.
Outside of the temperature trends across the region, AccuWeather meteorologists are also closely monitoring the potential for tropical development in the Bay of Bengal this weekend into early next week, with possible impacts to eastern India during the second week of May.
For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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News / Weather News
India experiences hottest April ever as wildfires expand, air quality worsens
By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published May 1, 2022 12:08 PM EST | Updated May 3, 2022 8:09 AM EST
A massive fire that engulfed a landfill on the edge of a New Delhi neighborhood poured smoke into the air for days, making the air quality of an already polluted city even worse.
Temperatures soared across India in April, as the country concluded the month with a notable heatwave. The record-breaking heat has contributed to an increase in wildfires and worsening air quality across the country over the past week.
While India is no stranger to heat, the past month has been more extreme than most, and experts say that two areas of India have just experienced their hottest April ever.
The Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Mrutyunjay Mohaptra, told Reuters that northwest and central India recored average max temperatures of 96.6 F and 100 F (35.9 and 37.78 C) respectively in April. These values are the highest ever recorded for each region since historical records began in 1900.
New Delhi was among one of the affected cities, ending the month approximately 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) above the norm. Only two days of the entire month failed to reach or surpass 100 F(38 C).
The most extreme temperatures were experienced in the final days of April, when the thermometer readings reached or surpassed 110 degrees F the final three days. On Saturday, April 30, New Delhi hit 112 F, the highest of the entire month, but fell just shy of the city's April record. The all-time record high temperature for April in New Delhi is 114.1 F (45.6 C), according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls.
A boy drinks soda at a promenade on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
This data surfaces following an exceptionally warm March, what the meteorologists at the IMD called the hottest March for India as a whole since 1901. March 2022's average high temperature was 3.35 degrees F (1.86 Celsius) above the climatological average.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Electricity shortages have also been a result of the heat, which has brought an increase in demand for power across India as residents try to keep cool. At least three Indian states have imposed power cuts on industrial activity, according to Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned last week that the number of wildfires across the country was on the rise. One notable fire was a blaze that broke out at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, on Tuesday, April 26. The landfill continued to burn as of Sunday, but was under control, according to the Times of India. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
A firefighter uses his mobile phone as he sits on top of a fire truck as smoke billows from burning garbage at the Bhalswa landfill site in New Delhi, India, April 27, 2022. (Photo/REUTERS)
The fire forced a nearby school to close on Tuesday. The institution, Gyan Sarovar School, reported last Wednesday that it would be closed for at least a week. The director of the foundation that runs the school, Father Santhosh, said the thick layer of smoke was making it difficult for the children to breath. There were also reports that the heat of the fire caused the class of the window panes to melt.
Residents had also filed a formal complaint with local police, demanding action. Poisonous fumes from the fire were entering homes and risking those living nearby with worsening the air quality so much that many were having breathing issues.
Forest fires began nearby over the past week, spreading across the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) said more than 7,800 hotspots where forest fires had started in just three days across the country, including 277 large fires on Friday.
The above image shows active fires on Sunday, May 1, as detected by satellite. (Photo/NASA FIRMS)
The extreme heat, especially during the last few days of April, has continued to dry out any brush, making it even more flammable should a fire start.
FSI data showed that a record number of fires have been reported since January, compared to those over the past two years. The majority of the fires sparked in April.
While the blistering heatwave has already started to wane, enough damage has been done due to extreme temperatures to allow poor air quality and the heightened risk for fires to continue.
Pakistan has also been experiencing the extreme heat. The country's Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, said on Saturday that Pakistan went from winter to summer, without much of a spring, for the first time in decades.
On Thursday, April 28, the hottest location on Earth was Jacobabad, Pakistan, which measured a high temperature of 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius). Residents across the country did whatever they could to stay cool, taking shelter in the shade and dousing themselves in cool water.
Outside of the temperature trends across the region, AccuWeather meteorologists are also closely monitoring the potential for tropical development in the Bay of Bengal this weekend into early next week, with possible impacts to eastern India during the second week of May.
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For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
Report a Typo