India

[knocker]

 

[knocker]

Indian drought 'affecting 330 million people' after two weak monsoons

About 330 million people are affected by drought in India, the government has said, as the country reels from severe water shortages and desperately poor farmers suffer crop losses.

A senior government lawyer, PS Narasimha, told the supreme court that a quarter of the country’s population, spread across 10 states, had been hit by drought after two consecutive years of weak monsoons.

Narasimha said the government had released funds to affected regions where a crippling shortage of rainfall had forced the rationing of drinking water to some communities.

As summer hits India, reports of families and farmers in remote villages walking long distances to find water after their wells dried up have dominated local media.

Narasimha gave the figures on Tuesday after an NGO filed a petition asking the top court to order Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to step up relief to the hardest-hit areas.

High temperatures have hit parts of eastern, central and southern India in recent weeks, with scores of deaths reported from heatstroke.

Every year hundreds of people, mainly the poor, die at the height of summer in India, but temperatures have risen earlier than normal, increasing concerns about this year’s toll.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/20/india-drought-affecting-330-million-people-weak-monsoons

[knocker]

Brutal Heat Intensifies Across India; Generous Monsoon on the Way?

Quote

There are encouraging signs of a wetter-than-average monsoon in the cards for India this year--but until it arrives, millions of residents will have to deal with torrid pre-monsoon heat assaulting South and Southeast Asia this spring. More than 300 fatalities have been reported in the east-central Indian states of Odisha and Telangana. On May 1 and 2, at least 12 Indian locations broke or tied their all-time highest May temperatures. Accentuating the premature nature of this year’s heat, most of the prior records had been set during the last week of May. (Thanks to meteorologist Michael Theusner of Klimahaus for these statistics.) Extra weeks of heat stress are an ominous portent in this highly vulnerable nation. Some 2500 people were killed in 2015 by India’s second-deadliest pre-monsoonal heat wave on record, close behind 1998 (2541 deaths).

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/brutal-heat-intensifies-across-india-generous-monsoon-on-the-way

[knocker]

 

[knocker]

 

[knocker]

 

[mb018538]

Dangerously hot. A couple of online forecasts have a 50c showing for the usual hotspot, Jacobabad, in the coming days. The pre monsoon heat has been intense this year, and longer lasting than usual. Hopefully when the monsoon starts to arrive it will be plentiful. It's already suggested that it will be a week late at present, with it not expected to reach land until around the 7th June. All eyes on the region to see what happens.

[knocker]

 

[Summer Sun]

Phalodi in Rajasthan, India recorded 51.0c, 123.8f yesterday a new record for India

[knocker]

 

[Mapantz]

51°C in Jacobabad, Pakistan, yesterday. Minimum was 32°C - lol

[Frost HoIIow]

1 minute ago, Mapantz said:

51°C in Jacobabad, Pakistan, yesterday. Minimum was 32°C - lol

That heat is reallyabad 

[knocker]

 

[danm]

Bumping this as I'm in India between 21st December and 8th January. Have been several times before but not for 10 years. 

In Mumbai for the first 5 days, here is the current weather:

 

Then off to Agra and Delhi before heading home:

[danm]

Delhi fog: Poor visibility disrupts life and travel in Indian capital

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

India's weather department says Delhi is seeing its coldest January in 13 years.

 

[MagicOtter]

Any thoughts on this summer's weather in India and Sri Lanka? I'm there in late July... predictions have veered from drought to a strong monsoon but I'm not sure which is the latest?