According to government sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair an important review meeting on Thursday to assess the country’s readiness to deal with the current heat wave as well as the upcoming monsoon season. Modi is expected to hold seven to eight meetings during the day after returning from a three-day trip to Europe on Thursday morning.
In April, several parts of the country experienced all-time high temperatures, with temperatures reaching 46-47 degrees Celsius, resulting in a severe heatwave. The weather service had issued an orange alert for Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha, among other states.
With a monthly average maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius, Delhi had its second hottest April since 1951. In April 1941, Delhi experienced its all-time high maximum temperature of 45.6 degrees Celsius.
On Thursday, however, Delhi awoke to a pleasant morning, with a minimum temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius, two degrees below the average, following hailstorms and rains in parts of the city the night before.
The Safdarjung observatory, the city’s base station, recorded 1 mm of rain between 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday and 8.30 a.m. on Thursday, according to the weather office.
Due to the extreme heat, a large number of fires have been reported across the country. Hundreds of forest fires erupted in Himachal Pradesh in recent weeks as temperatures rose, according to PTI.
Modi issued a stark warning last week about rising temperatures and the increasing number of fires in landfills, garbage dumps, and forests. “Temperatures are rapidly rising in the country, and we are seeing an increase in the number of fires in various places,” he said. Modi had asked the states to prioritise fire-safety audits for hospitals, factories, and other public buildings while speaking to the chief ministers.
