The India Meteorological Department has issued a heatwave alert for Mysuru and surrounding regions forecasting daytime temperature higher than normal.
An orange alert has also been issued which is a warning that high temperature and increased likelihood of heat illness symptoms in people who are exposed to sun for a prolonged period or engaged in heavy work. Besides, it could also be a health concern for the vulnerable people such as infants and elderly persons with chronic diseases.
The heatwave alert comes close on the heels of reports of a possible drop in maximum temperature by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius from May 7 onwards as atmospheric and weather conditions favourable for it was taking shape, as per various weather channels.
This year’s summer is the longest in terms of duration and severity as Mysuru breached the 39 degrees Celsius mark on multiple occasions while the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) – which has weather monitoring stations at hobli level – recorded temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for the city.
The KSNDMC recorded 39.5 degrees Celsius for Mysuru during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Thursday while it was 39.9 degrees Celsius for Mandya, 39.3 degrees Celsius for Chamarajanagar, 36.5 degrees Celsius for Hasan and 34.1 degrees Celsius for Kodagu in the same period.
The KSNDMC live temperature dashboard for Thursday indicated that Agara in Yelandur taluk of Chamarajanagar had recorded 42.2 degrees Celsius at 2.45 p.m. In comparison, it was 40.2 degrees at Ramapura in Kolleggal, 38.4 degrees Celsius in HD Kote, 39.9 degres Celsius in Bilikeri, and 39.1 degrees Celsius in Hanagodu in Hunsur taluk.
Failure of south west monsoon last year coupled with lack of normal rains since January this year has added to severity of the summer which is the longest in terms of duration as also severity, in living memory.
But as the proverbial silver lining, the KSDNC has recorded isolated incidents of rainfall in Chamarajanagar on Thursday. While there was 22 mm of rainfall in Shivapura in Gundlupet taluk, Kannaegala in Gundlupet received 20.5 mm while Hundipura also in Gundlupet, received 18 mm of rainfall. However, the KSNDMC has cited IMD to indicate that there will be no significant change in daytime temperature and has repeated the Orange Alert warning and heat wave conditions for Mysuru, Mandya, and Chamarajanagar valid till Saturday.
Meanwhile, the water level in the major reservoirs continues to dip and the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) across the river Cauvery had only 11.28 tmc ft of water as on April 30, 2024 against 14.27 tmc ft during the same period last year. This is 23 per cent of the gross storage capacity of 49.45 tmc ft. The available quantum of water at Hemavathi in Gorur was 9.51 tmc ft on April 30 as against 17.95 tmc ft on the same day last year and the available storage this year is 26 per cent of the gross storage capacity of 37.10 tmc ft. The water availability at Harangi was 3.06 tmc ft while it was 7.27 tmc ft in Kabini and the cumulative storage in the four major dams in the Cauvery basin of the State was 31.12 tmc ft against the gross capacity of 114.57 tmc ft, as per KSNDMC.
