Warmest June for south peninsular India since 1901, says weather office

It was the warmest June in southern peninsular India since 1901 as the region recorded the average maximum temperature of 34.05 degrees Celsius, the weather office said on Tuesday.

The region also clocked the third highest average minimum temperature for June since 1901 at 26.04 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The average mean temperature for the month was 30.05 degrees Celsius, the highest since 1901, it added.

The monthly weather review released by the weather office on Tuesday evening also said the maximum temperature was above normal by 4.4 degrees Celsius mainly over most parts of East and Northeast India, South Peninsular India, and some parts of Northwest and Central India.

South Peninsular India received 88.6 mm of rainfall in June, the lowest since 1901.

The normal rainfall for June for the region is 161 mm. The previous lowest rainfall value was 90.7 mm observed in 1976, it said.

Over East and Northeast India during June, the average maximum temperature is the third highest (33.87 degrees Celsius with an anomaly of 1.73 degrees Celsius) after the years 1979 (34.47 degrees Celsius), 1958 (34.26 degrees Celsius) since 1901, the weather office said.

The average minimum temperature was the second highest (25.11 degrees Celsius with an anomaly of 1.00 degrees Celsius) after the year 1958 (25.14 deg Celsius) since 1901 for east and northeast India, it said.

The mean temperature is the third highest (29.49 degrees Celsius with an anomaly of 1.37 degrees Celsius) after the years 1958 (29.70 degrees Celsius), 1979 (29.53 degrees Celsius) since 1901 for east and northeast India, it said.

The eastern parts of the country also faced the brunt of heatwaves in June.

Heatwave to severe heatwave was observed on almost all dates from June 1 to 22 over Bihar, June 1 to 18 over West Bengal, and June 12 to 21 over East Uttar Pradesh.

However, northwest and adjoining central parts of India comprising Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Gujarat saw almost no occurrence of any heatwave conditions.

The weather office said warmer than normal temperatures (both for maximum and minimum temperatures) were observed throughout the country during several days in June this year, mainly from June 5-24.

The average maximum, average minimum and mean temperatures for the country as a whole during June 2023 are 34.60 degrees Celsius, 25.39 degrees Celsius and 29.99 degrees Celsius respectively, against the normal of 33.73 degrees Celsius, 24.76 degrees Celsius and 29.25 degrees Celsius based on climatological data for the period 1981-2010.

During June, the country as a whole received 148.6 mm of rainfall, which was 10 per cent less than its Long Period Average (LPA) of 165.3 mm.