Heatwaves in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha

During the last summer season, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha experienced severe heat waves and there were more than 2000 deaths, making it one of the deadliest in the nation’s history.

The reason for occurrence of severe heat-waves is a combination of several factors. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather with temperature in the range of above 40°C in plain areas or above 30°C in hilly regions. The high temperature conditions may also be accompanied by high humidity. During the period of March to July, certain parts of India occasionally face high temperature weather and these spells often migrate from one region to the other region.

In 2015, there were sparse pre-monsoon showers and they were ended abruptly resulting in large parts of India dry and arid. Temperature in May month soared above 40°C and this condition was compounded with El Nino effect that brought high temperature across Asia. A combination of dry winds form northwest India and Pakistan, strong solar radiation, and a favourable anti-cyclone over the Indian sub-continent has triggered the heat wave conditions.  The worst affected areas were the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha. The Indian Meteorological Department also observed that the east coast of India experienced an upward trend in temperature of about 0.6°C in the last century. It could be attributed to anthropogenic activities and depletion of vegetation, along with increased aridity.

One of the reasons for more number of deaths in the last summer could be high humidity and soaring temperature that increased stress levels particularly among elderly, children, and labourers.