India heatwave sees temperatures rise

let's talk more now about what is happening in India recording its highest ever temperatures Delhi hitting de C the government's weather bureau reported severe Heatwave conditions breaking the landmark Celsius Mark for the first time officials had already issued a red alert for several parts of the country's northern and western areas several parts of Asia have been grappling with unusually high temperatures this summer it's a trend that scientists say has been worsened by climate change with me is our weather presenter Ben Rich who has been looking into this for us de wow

Ben that's so hot truly astonishing Lucy that temperature recorded by weather station to the northwest of the city of Delhi recorded by an automatic weather station now why am I saying that well automatic weather stations all around the globe report temperatures every hour sometimes more often than that and this weather station does appear to have reported a temperature of de C which would break the previous record for all of India by more than a degree now what

will have to happen is that temperature will have to be verified so that weather station will need to be checked to make sure it's in standard conditions far enough away from buildings in in the right sort of location because we need standardized temperature readings around the world to be able to to say things about how our weather and climate is

changing so that temperature has been recorded we'll be waiting to hear from the Indian met Department to hear uh whether that temperature is verified and how that sort of feeds into to the records but it's almost a moot point because temperatures across large parts of Northern and Central India have been well above ° C those temperatures around to °

above the average for the time of year the nighttime temperatures as well I was looking at some of those they've been remaining above ° some places in the high so no relief at night from that heat that goes on day after day after day and that is why we are seeing so much impact from this ongoing Heat Wave and what is leading to this increase in the

temperatures been well this is the hottest time of year across that part of India we await the arrival of the Southwest Monsoon which uh is now when it's arrived in Sri Lanka and the MDES it will get into the south of India probably in the next day or so the monsoon brings the rain and brings a cool down and obviously brings floods sometimes but as we

wait wait for the monsoon the land just heats up the sun bakes down the temperature climbs so it's the hottest time of year obviously it is hotter than even that normality if you like at the moment um it seems that there's been a lack of weather systems working in from the West so we have these Western disturbances that move across Afghanistan

Pakistan into those Northern parts of India they bring outbreaks of rain this year we haven't seen many of those so it's been very dry that allows the land to heat up those Western disturbances can also bring some cooler air down from the north so a lack of those has allowed those temperatures to keep climbing the third factor of course is climate change

and one of the things we know about our changing climate is that heat waves become more likely and when they do occur they become more severe so while studies will have to take place to see exactly what impact that has had in this case certainly climate change does make this sort of heat wave more likely so do we have any idea Ben how long this

heat is going to last for this record-breaking heat so the forecast is for temperatures to come down a little bit by a few degrees so instead of those temperatures up around we might be seeing temperatures around ° so coming down a little bit some of the sort of red heat wave warnings that have been issued have been downgraded to ERS and yellows in a few days time but I don't think that's really an end to this situation because it's been going on for so long now that those

impacts just just just grow in terms of a a proper cool down if you like it will the arrival of the monsoon rain which we watch for over the the coming weeks and months you watch for and all of India watching indeed indeed absolutely Ben thank you so much"

let's talk more now about what is happening in India recording its highest ever temperatures Delhi hitting 52.3 de C the government's weather bureau reported severe Heatwave conditions breaking the landmark 50 Celsius Mark for the first time officials had already issued a red alert for several parts of the country's northern and western areas several parts of

Asia have been grappling with unusually high temperatures this summer it's a trend that scientists say has been worsened by climate change with me is our weather presenter Ben Rich who has been looking into this for us 52.3 de wow Ben that's so hot truly astonishing Lucy that temperature recorded by weather station to the northwest of the city

of Delhi recorded by an automatic weather station now why am I saying that well automatic weather stations all around the globe report temperatures every hour sometimes more often than that and this weather station does appear to have reported a temperature of 2. 3 de C which would break the previous record for all of India by more than a degree now

what will have to happen is that temperature will have to be verified so that weather station will need to be checked to make sure it's in standard conditions far enough away from buildings in in the right sort of location because we need standardized temperature readings around the world to be able to to say things about how our weather and climate is

changing so that temperature has been recorded we'll be waiting to hear from the Indian met Department to hear uh whether that temperature is verified and how that sort of feeds into to the records but it's almost a moot point because temperatures across large parts of Northern and Central India have been well above 50° C those temperatures around 5

to 10° above the average for the time of year the nighttime temperatures as well I was looking at some of those they've been remaining above 30° some places in the high 30 so no relief at night from that heat that goes on day after day after day and that is why we are seeing so much impact from this ongoing Heat Wave and what is leading to this increase in

the temperatures been well this is the hottest time of year across that part of India we await the arrival of the Southwest Monsoon which uh is now when it's arrived in Sri Lanka and the MDES it will get into the south of India probably in the next day or so the monsoon brings the rain and brings a cool down and obviously brings floods sometimes but as we

wait wait for the monsoon the land just heats up the sun bakes down the temperature climbs so it's the hottest time of year obviously it is hotter than even that normality if you like at the moment um it seems that there's been a lack of weather systems working in from the West so we have these Western disturbances that move across Afghanistan

Pakistan into those Northern parts of India they bring outbreaks of rain this year we haven't seen many of those so it's been very dry that allows the land to heat up those Western disturbances can also bring some cooler air down from the north so a lack of those has allowed those temperatures to keep climbing the third factor of course is climate change

and one of the things we know about our changing climate is that heat waves become more likely and when they do occur they become more severe so while studies will have to take place to see exactly what impact that has had in this case certainly climate change does make this sort of heat wave more likely so do we have any idea Ben how long this

heat is going to last for this record-breaking heat so the forecast is for temperatures to come down a little bit by a few degrees so instead of those temperatures up around 50 we might be seeing temperatures around 45 46° so coming down a little bit some of the sort of red heat wave warnings that have been issued have been downgraded to ERS and

yellows in a few days time but I don't think that's really an end to this situation because it's been going on for so long now that those impacts just just just grow in terms of a a proper cool down if you like it will the arrival of the monsoon rain which we watch for over the the coming weeks and months you watch for and all of India watching indeed indeed

absolutely Ben thank you so much"

• India experiences its highest-ever temperatures, with Delhi hitting 52.3°C, breaking the 50°C mark for the first time.
• The heatwave is widespread across northern and western parts of India, with temperatures remaining well above 50°C in some areas.
• Scientists attribute the extreme temperatures to climate change, which makes heatwaves more likely and severe.
• The absence of weather systems from the west, such as Western disturbances, has exacerbated the heat by allowing the land to heat up.
• While temperatures are expected to slightly decrease in the coming days, the relief is not significant, and the situation is expected to persist until the arrival of the monsoon rains.