Pleasant weather across much of India over the past week marks a sharp turnaround from the unusually warm first half of March, preventing the month from becoming one of the hottest on record, HT’s analysis of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) gridded data shows. Here is how. Sharp mid-March cooling reverses early heatwave trend across India, keeping overall temperatures near normal, IMD data shows. (Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)
Overall, this is only the 28th warmest March so far in terms of maximum temperature... According to IMD’s gridded data, India’s average maximum temperature in the first 22 days of March is 31.35°C. This is only the 28th highest for this period since 1951, the first year for which IMD has published gridded data. It is also close to the normal of 30.89°C, which IMD considers the average for the 1981–2010 period.
To be sure, the month remains quite warm in terms of minimum temperatures. The average minimum temperature ranks as the seventh highest and is 1.10°C above normal.
…but was the sixth warmest by maximum temperature in the first two weeks While March, on average, appears relatively normal in terms of maximum temperatures—the key metric as summer approaches—this was not the case at the start of the month. For example, the 40°C threshold was breached in the gridded data by March 6, or day 65 of the year, marking the third earliest such breach since 1951.
The average maximum temperature in the first 14 days of the month was 32.33°C, the sixth highest for this period, and 2.08°C above normal.