Bhira and Akola vie for ‘hottest in country’ tag

PUNE: Two locations from Maharashtra — Bhira and Akola — repeatedly emerged as the 'hottest place' in the country in six of the eight days in March.
Akola was the hottest place in the country on Wednesday when its day temperature soared to 38.6 degrees C. Bhira was the hottest on Thursday, surpassing high temperatures in Gujarat.

In the last week, since summer began in March, either of these two stations were being repeatedly declared by India Meteorological Department (IMD) as locations reporting the highest maximum temperature in the country.
Maharashtra seems to be emerging as one of the hottest states in the country too, with temperatures inching towards 40 degrees C. On Wednesday, Akola saw the mercury rising to 38.6 degrees C, even though it is still early summer.
Pune's Shivajinagar and Lohegaon stations recorded the hottest day of summer (up till now) on Wednesday with the day temperature crossing 36 degrees C and 37 degrees C, respectively.
Though temperatures in the state fell slightly on Thursday, a met department official said Shivajinagar’s temperature had touched 36.2 degrees C for the first time this season on Wednesday. Similarly, it touched 37 degrees C for the first time this season in Lohegaon the same day.
An IMD official told TOI that the current period is the transition season from winter to summer. “Summer as such has not completely set in. Due to the change in the wind pattern, some locations are sometimes showing higher values and at other times, showing lower temperatures. The change in wind pattern caused by the location of the high-pressure area over the mainland are resulting in the rise and fall in mercury. When this high pressure region is over land, it results in the easterly wind flow over the region. These winds are dry and cause a rise in temperatures. However, once the wind pattern changes to westerly, temperatures tend to drop,” the official said.
Another met official said Maharashtra is closer to the southern hemisphere, and is the first state in the west to be exposed to the sun’s rays when they move from peninsular India, while Telangana is the first state to be exposed to them in the east.
Hence, temperatures tend to be higher in these regions than other states.
Day temperatures in Maharashtra have been consistently above normal, more so in some locations here. Above normal temperatures indicate higher than average temperatures.
On March 1, Bhira’s day temperature was 4.4 degrees higher than the normal for the location, while Akola’s was 5 degrees higher than normal. March 2, 3, 5, 6 saw similar temperature trends at these stations, with temperature being 3-4 degrees higher than usual.