Red alert of heat wave in North India, The scorching heat continues in most parts of the country. Fire is raining from the sky in the country’s capital Delhi. The situation can be gauged from the fact that the temperature here crossed 48 degrees on Monday. The most deadly heat is occurring in Rajasthan. The temperature here remained above 49 degrees. Apart from this, the temperature in some parts of Haryana, Punjab, UP and Madhya Pradesh also went above 48 degrees.
The blaze in #Noida‘s Lotus Boulevard, which comes amid intense #heatwave in the national capital region, led to panic among the residents. Milan Sharma tells more in this report. #ReporterDiary | (@milan_reports) pic.twitter.com/cFrVCkO1MW
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) May 30, 2024
During summer, nights are also becoming hot in many metropolitan cities of the country. The temperature index (HI) of major metros in the country has seen a significant increase since 2010. The most important reasons behind this are the rapidly increasing construction work in cities, global warming as well as increasing moisture in the air. All these reasons have increased the temperature index of urban areas. At the same time, the air in cities is becoming warmer due to the increasing use of air conditioners.
In a recent report ‘Decoding the Urban Heat Stress among Indian Cities’ by the Center of Science and Environment, recent temperature indices of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai were studied. These cities are not getting as cold at night as they were between 2001 and 2010. Citing data of a decade, the report states that the land surface temperature during the day dropped by 6.2 to 13.2 degrees Celsius at night.
But in the last 10 summers it decreases only by 6.2 °C to 11.5 °C. The maximum reduction of 24 percent in coolness at night has been seen in Mumbai. The direct effect of reduction in cold at night is visible on human health. This leaves very little time for people to recover from the stress caused by the heat of the day.
The report also states that 24-hour high temperature index also increases the burden on power supply. Excessive use of air conditioners, coolers and refrigerators increases the electrical load. Excessive use of cooling equipment increases the temperature in a particular area. Research has shown that the air in cities is becoming warmer due to the increasing use of air conditioners. Many states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra have created new records in electricity demand.