PUNE: Shivajinagar in the city recorded its highest average night temperature for March this year in a decade, IMD data revealed.
It was also among the three hottest March months for the location in the past 10 years, when only the day temperatures were taken into consideration. The average day temperature recorded at the location this March was 36.6ºC, a value that was also recorded in 2021.
The average day temperature during the month in 2019 was 36.7ºC. March 2019 is, thus, the hottest March in a decade for Shivajinagar, exceeding 2021 and 2022 values by just 0.1ºC.
The average March night temperature at the location this year was 17.9ºC, highest since 2011, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data revealed. Though these are just Shivajinagar’s records, day and night temperatures were much higher at other locations, such as Lohegaon, Chinchwad and Magarpatta, in Pune in March this year.
K S Hosalikar, head of the Climate Research and Services, IMD-Pune, told TOI that the high day and night temperatures in Pune in March could be a result of the spill-over effect from adjoining districts, where the maximum temperatures had been between 40ºC and 41ºC for several days. “The high day temperatures in those districts could also impact the maximums in Pune. Also, when the day has been very warm, nearing 40ºC in some places, this effect can carry forward till late evening or night time as well,” Hosalikar said.
Areas such as Wadgaonsheri, Lohegaon and Magarpatta in the city tend to record higher temperatures in comparison to Shivajinagar. As per Hosalikar, the IMD could undertake a study to understand if some pockets in Pune remained warmer than a few other locations, which could help identify some heat sinks and sources in such localities.
IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said an anticyclone in the middle troposphere over the central parts of India, especially over South Rajasthan, Gujarat and north Maharashtra, and Pakistan, had been heating up some locations.
“When there is an anti-cyclone at a height of 5km, air rotates clockwise and subsides. When the air subsides, it compresses and warms. Any downward motion of the air causes it to warm up. This has caused warming over regions under the influence of the anticyclone, i.e. south Rajasthan, Gujarat, north Maharashtra, adjoining MP and south Pakistan,” he said.
