India to see warmer start to summer in 2024, says IMD

India is likely to experience a warmer start to the summer season in 2024 with El Niño conditions predicted to continue through the season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

More heatwave days than normal are predicted over north-east peninsular India — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and north interior Karnataka — and many parts of Maharashtra and Odisha.

The country is likely to record above-normal rainfall in March (more than 117 per cent of the long-period average of 29.9 mm).

India is likely to see above-normal maximum and minimum temperatures in most parts of the country in the March to May period, IMD director-general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said at a press conference. Heatwave conditions are not expected over north and central India in March, he said.

Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held in April-May.

Mohapatra said that the prevailing El Niño conditions — the periodic warming of waters in the central Pacific Ocean — will continue through the summer season and neutral conditions are likely to develop thereafter.

La Niña conditions — generally associated with good monsoon rainfall in India — are likely to set in by the second half of the monsoon season.