Mumbai, are you ready for a hotter summer this year?

As the summers inch closer, Mumbaikars continued to feel the unbearable heat, with temperatures in the city hitting a dizzying 37.8 degrees centigrade on Tuesday.

As per weathermen this is due to the late start of sea breeze and existing wind conditions. Tuesday was the third highest temperature recorded in February since 2017 where the maximum recorded temperature was 38.8 degrees centigrade.

The maximum temperature recorded at Santaruz was 37.8 degrees centigrade which was 5.5 degrees above normal and 36.5 degrees centigrade in Colaba which was 5 degrees above normal. Minimum temperatures were also higher than the norm.

As per the IMD, this heat wave is likely to continue. The pre-monsoon months this year - March, April and May - will be warmer than normal and the heat wave will hit 16 states, apart from Delhi, earlier due to various reasons.

It said the average temperature would be at least 1 degree Celcius higher than what was prevalent in the previous summers in most of the regions across India. In certain regions in the south, the temperature rise could be 0.5 degree. "The heat wave will hit us, for sure, especially the core heat zone that includes Delhi and other states. The temperature variations will differ from region to region," India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Dr K J Ramesh was reported as saying. Heat wave occurs when mercury shoots five degrees above normal.

The regions falling under the core heat wave zone are Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, and meteorological subdivisions of Marathwada, Vidarbha, central Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh. The IMD predicts about 52 per cent probability of above-normal maximum temperature in the core heat wave zone.

The Met office said regions likely to be warmer by at least 1 degree are Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, west and east Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, west and east Uttar Pradesh, west and east Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha (Maharashtra), Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.

Temperature increase lesser than 0.5 degree will be witnessed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, north and south interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

(With inputs from agencies)

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