• According to Indian Meteorological department, India’s central and north-western parts are headed for a hotter than normal summer season.

Important observations:

• IMD has declared that the April to June season’s average maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by 0.5 degree Celsius over most of the meteorological subdivisions from central India and some subdivisions from north-west India.
• Maximum temperatures will be above normal by 0.5-1.0 degree Celsius in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west and east Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, west and east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Marathwada, coastal Karnataka, north-interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Telangana.
• The situation will be more severe in west Rajasthan, where minimum and mean temperatures will be above normal by 1 degree Celsius. The IMD has also predicted above normal heat wave conditions in regions that normally experience them or the core heat wave zone.
• The heat waves have already struck many parts of the country. They started with Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh in early March.
• In late March, an unusual heat wave affected Kerala, taking weather forecasters by surprise. It has killed four people till date and almost 300 people have suffered from sun burns.
• Temperature rise of one degree Celsius above normal is usual in pre-monsoon summer. But this time, it is up by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius. The development of El Nino is behind this.  

About El Nino:

• El Nino is the unusual warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and disrupts global wind patterns affecting climatic conditions in tropical areas like Africa, sub-tropical areas like India as well as the extra-tropical areas like North America.