Bengaluru loses its cool with record Jan temperature

Bengaluru seems to be losing its “cool” tag as it recorded 33.4 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the highest maximum temperature for January. This is the highest temperature for the month since India Meteorological Department (IMD) began recording weather data in the city more than 150 years ago.

This is four degrees Celsius more than the normal temperature during the period. The previous high in January was recorded two decades ago on January 24, 2000 at 32.8 degrees Celsius.

While 33.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in the central business district, it was relatively high in other parts of Bengaluru Urban district, according to data from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).

C S Patil, scientist, IMD Bengaluru, told DH that temperatures have been above normal in January. “Generally, there are cold wave conditions for a few days in January. However, it was not experienced at all during the year,” he said.

According to IMD’s extended range forecast, maximum temperature is expected to surge to around 35-36 degrees Celsius by the last week of February, which will be three to five degrees Celsius above normal.

While acknowledging that it was a warm winter, Patil said that it was premature to say whether summer will be warmer than normal. There is no one-to-one correlation between maximum temperatures during summer and winter seasons, he said.

KSNDMC Director GS Sreenivas Reddy said that above normal sea-surface temperature was one of the main factors causing warm weather in the region. "During the course of the last couple of weeks, both maximum and minimum temperature of the state have been above normal," he said.

To a question, he said that above normal temperatures would have little impact on the Rabi crop. "Most of the crop is ready for harvesting," he noted.