Heatwave to worsen over the years: Study

HYDERABAD: If you think the heat wave this year is the worst, prepare for tougher times ahead. Hyderabad is likely to get hotter in the next few years, with the average number of severe heatwave days increasing.

Generally the city suffers a maximum of five heatwave days' in a year. According to experts, this number will go up to as many as 40 days per year in the future. This prediction has been made in a paper titled Climate change scenarios for Hyderabad: Integrating uncertainties and consolidation' by Matthias K B Ludeke, Martin Budde, Oleksandr Kit, Diana Reckien of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany.

A heat wave' day is when the temperature is five degrees Celsius or more than the average temperature recorded on that particular day over the last three decades. For example, the temperature recorded on Saturday was 43.6 degrees Celsius against a normal maximum temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius recorded on the same day in the last few years. According to the Met officials, this is five degrees Celsius more than the normal temperature.

Similarly, the temperature recorded on May 22 was 44.3 degrees C against a normal maximum temperature of 39.9 degrees C on the same day in the last few years. "For two consecutive days, there were heat wave conditions in the city," said Raja Rao, duty officer, Met office, Hyderabad. The hottest day ever recorded in the city was on June 2, 1966, when the temperature shot up to 45.6 degrees Celsius.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in its report pertaining to weather conditions in the country in 2014, came out with the information that the temperatures in Hyderabad were above normal by more than two degrees Celsius compared to other parts of the country, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The gradual increase in temperatures in Hyderabad and Telangana, which is also under heat wave conditions, is a cause for concern.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which did a study on emerging megacities, including Hyderabad, gave predictions up to 2100, taking into account emission levels. The study said the high emission scenario is expected to generate as many as 40 heat wave days per year'.