A day after Nagpur’s two of the four automatic weather stations (AWS) showed temperatures measuring 54 and 56 degrees on Thursday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) officials clarified that the said temperature was recorded due to a malfunction of sensors.

“The report of 56 degrees Celsius temperature on May 30 is not correct and not declared officially. The nearby functioning AWS is at CICR, Nagpur and the maximum temperature on May 30 was 44 degrees Celsius,” Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Nagpur said in a statement.

The Nagpur AWS situated in the middle of the 24-hectare open agriculture land belonging to PDKV at Ramdaspeth, off North Ambazari Road, recorded 56 degrees on Thursday.

The other AWS along the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Sonegaon too recorded 54 degrees.

In a similar incident, a day after Delhi’s Mungeshpur had recorded 52.3 degrees on Wednesday, the weather agency on Thursday ad raised questions about the accuracy of the sensors. “It could be due to an error in the sensor or the local factor. IMD is examining the data and sensors,” the weather agency had stated. A

As many as twelve people died of suspected heatstroke in Odisha’s Sundargarh during the past 24 hours, news agency IANS reported.

According to a PTI report, four people, including a woman, were killed due to heatwave-related symptoms in Jharkhand’s Palamu district, which recorded the state’s highest maximum temperature at 47.4 degrees on Thursday. In Bihar, sunstroke killed eight on Thursday.

The weather agency, however, has said the heatwave conditions are likely to abate starting tomorrow.

IMD scientist Soma Sen said, “There have been a lot of casualties in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha in the last 24 hours. What we expect is that gradually heat wave conditions will abate from this entire region from tomorrow. Based on this, in most of these states, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand in all these states we have given an Orange alert for heat waves has been issued today.”

Source: news18