Nagpur did not touch 56 degrees Celsius, clarifies IMD

The New Delhi-headquartered India Meteorological Department clarified that a temperature reading of 56 degrees Celsius was recorded on Thursday due to a malfunction of the sensors.

Mumbai: Amid reports that the geographical centre of Nagpur recorded 56 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the weathermen have now clarified that the said temperature was recorded because of a malfunction of temperature sensors - a development that brings the automatic weather station (AWS) under scrutiny.

According to reports, the 24 hectare open agriculture field belonging to Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidhyalaya (PDKV) at Ramdaspeth recorded 56 degrees Celsius.

The New Delhi-headquartered India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Regional Meteorological Centre in Nagpur, however, issued a clarification on Friday.

“On May 30 PDKV Ramdaspeth (Nagpur City IMD AWS) reported maximum temperature of 54.4 degrees Celsius and one more station Nagpur reported 52.2 degrees Celsius. These values are wrong due to failure of electronic sensor (As confirmed by IMD, Pune). The observations from other AWS and IMD observatory station at Nagpur reported maximum temperature in the range of 44-45 degrees Celsius. The corrective action is being taken by IMD,” the IMD posted on X.

The Nagpur RMC said: “The temperature sensor at Nagpur City AWS, maintained by RMC Nagpur, is currently malfunctioning, and RMC Nagpur is working to fix it. However, it is important to note that electronic sensors can fail in extreme weather conditions. Automatic systems may report erroneous reading due to various reasons such as site conditions, damage of sensors or its protection shields etc. The report of 56 degrees Celsius on 30/05/2024 is not correct and not declared officially.”

However, it added that in the nearby functioning AWS at Central Institute For Cotton Research (CICR) the maximum temperature reading was 44 degrees Celsius.