Anti-cyclone behind heatwave in east India: IMD

New Delhi: An anti-cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, coupled with high temperatures in central India, is leading to a heatwave in eastern parts of the country where mercury has shot up over 40 degrees Celsius.
"Central India usually gets heated up in April and as May approaches, north-west India too starts heating up. The heat is passed on to other regions, which is why east India gets heated up," Director General of India Meteorological Department Laxman Singh Rathore said.
"Currently, there is an anti-cyclone (circulation of winds around a region of high atmospheric pressure) in the Bay of Bengal. This is not allowing advection which means, the sea breeze that helps in cooling the temperatures is not (flowing towards the land) happening. The combined effect is leading to such (heatwave) conditions," Rathore said.
Several parts of east and south-east India have recorded over 40 degrees Celsius temperatures, with Titalgarh in Odisha recording a high of 46.3 degree Celsius on Sunday.
As per IMD data, several places, mostly in the east Indian state of Odisha and the south Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have recorded temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius.
"Heatwave conditions continue to prevail at a few places over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, Haryana, Delhi and Chhattisgarh," the IMD said.
"On April 19, heatwave conditions are very likely at a few places over Telangana, Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, at isolated places over Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal and north interior Karnataka," the IMD cautioned.
However, the IMD has forecast heavy rains in some parts of the north-east on Tuesday. "Heavy rains are very likely at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh. Thunderstorm accompanied with squall/hail likely at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura," the IMD said.