Relentless heat wave keeps Hyderabad uncomfortably warm

intense heat wave has caused the night time temperatures to remain elevated across Hyderabad. For the past 24 hours, night time temperatures in Hyderabad and even in districts have ranged between 27 degree Celsius and 30 degree Celsius

Hyderabad: The relentless intense heat wave has caused the night time temperatures to remain elevated across Hyderabad. For the past 24 hours, night time temperatures in Hyderabad and even in districts have ranged between 27 degree Celsius and 30 degree Celsius.

According to experts, a combination of factors has led to such a situation. “During intense heat waves, there is continuous heating of the land all through the day and very little time left for cooling. As a result, there is not enough for temperatures to drop. A large number of districts that experience intense heat wave will also experience warm night time temp eratures,” explains Head, IMD-Hyderabad, Dr K Naga Ratna.

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Urban Heat Island effect also goes a long way for warm night time temperatures, experts point out. Urban surfaces like concrete, asphalt and buildings absorb heat and store a large amount of solar radiation during the day. Unlike vegetation, such as parks and small pockets of green cover, these concrete and cement structures tend to release stored heat slowly throughout the night, keeping the surrounding area warmer, IMD experts explained.

Weather experts have also said that warmer night time temperatures also occur when the air is stagnant and there is complete lack of windy conditions. As a result, the hot air in an urban setting remains stationary while cool breezy wind from the outskirts, where vegetative cover exists, does not enter into urban areas.

In Hyderabad, in the last 24-hours, the minimum temperatures were relatively higher by at least 2 degree Celsius to 3 degree Celsius. Multiple densely populated urban centres in Hyderabad like Malakpet, Santoshnagar, Moosapet, Khairatabad, Amberpet, Musheerabad and recorded minimum temperatures between 29.2 degree Celsius and 29.7 degree Celsius, Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) data indicated.

The locations in Hyderabad where the minimum temperatures ranged from 28 to 29 degree Celsius at Begumpet, Kukatpally, Falaknuma, Mehdipatnam, Charminar, Uppal, Alwal, L B Nagar, Gajularamaram, Saroornagar and Kapra.

On its part, the IMD-Hyderabad in its weather forecast on Thursday has issued warm night warnings for the next three-days for almost all the 33 districts of Telangana.