Hyderabad faces hottest weather in 70 yrs

It was only a few days ago that a chill was hanging in the air. And now, with the temperatures in the city varying between 33 and 35 degrees centigrade, many people have started crying out that summer has already come. While the spurt in temperature might seem abnormal to any average person, the folks at the meteorological centre aver that such temperatures have been observed earlier. The same was observed some 70 years ago!

“Summer has not come early this year. While the season is usually between March 1 and May 31, such temperatures in February are not uncommon. Such spurts have been seen in the 1940s also. In the last few years, temperatures began to increase from mid-February,” said K Seetha Ram, senior scientist, Met department.

While last year the maximum temperature recorded in February was 34 degress Celsius, the Met department predicts that this year the temperature in this month is expected to touch the decade high 39 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature in February in the last decade was 39.1 degrees centigrade, recorded on February 26, 2009.

“In the last few days the temperatures have come up by nearly five degrees, the reasons being scanty rainfall, clear skies and increasing pollution levels. The variation in green house gases is responsible for the anomalous temperature pattern,” Ram added.

The end of February is expected to be swelteringly hot with the mercury touching 38 degrees in the city and would be even higher in neighbouring districts like Nalgonda. YK Reddy, director-in-charge of the meteorological centre, said, “A heat wave can be expected when the temperatures touch 40 degrees, which is likely to happen next month. Seeing the present pattern, we can say that this summer will be hotter than the last.”