Heatwave grips India: Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand & Odisha to sweat it out on April 20

Amid the scorching summer across India, heatwave conditions will prevail in certain parts of the country on April 20. According to the India Meteorological Department, parts of Bihar and West Bengal will experience "heatwave to severe heatwave" conditions on Thursday. The weather forecasting agency also predicted heatwave conditions for isolated pockets over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, and Jharkhand.

According to IMD, 30 stations in Odisha recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. "30 stations recorded above 40°C whereas Baripada recorded 44.5°C followed by Nuapada at 44.4°C, and Bolangir at 44°C. Bhubaneshwar recorded 42.5°C, 4.6°C more than the normal temp. Heatwave warnings issued for 48 hours," IMD scientist Umashankar Das told ANI on Wednesday. However, soon the people of Odisha will get relief from this blazing heat after April 20. "After April 20 decrease in temperature will be seen," Das stated.

Speaking of heatwave conditions in Bihar, IMD scientist Ashish Kumar on Wednesday stated that there would be no relief to the people of the state as heatwave conditions will continue in some districts for the next three days. "As per the forecast, heat waves will continue in some districts for the next 3 days and will start reducing from 22nd April. There will be a drop of 2-4 degrees in the temperature. An orange alert was issued in Patna today," he said on Wednesday. An orange alert has also been issued for Thursday. 

"Severe" heatwave conditions likely over Gangetic West Bengal

On the other hand, the agency has predicted "severe" heatwave conditions in isolated pockets likely over Gangetic West Bengal on April 20-21 and Isolated Heatwave conditions "very likely" over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal on April 20. 

Amid the searing heat, some parts of the country may experience thunderstorms and lightning, rains, and even snowfall on Thursday. According to IMD, heavy rainfall/snowfall is "very likely" at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh. The agency has forecasted hailstorms with thunderstorms, lightning and squall (50-60 kmph) at isolated places over Uttarakhand and thunderstorms, lightning and gusty wind (30-40 kmph) at isolated places over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Vidarbha (Maharashtra) and Chhattisgarh. 

The agency has forecasted thunderstorms with lightning on April 20 at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Other places that will experience the same weather condition on April 20 are coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.