(From Our Correspondent)
Ahmedabad: March is barely half done, and Gujarat is already sweating through temperatures most years reserve for May. Several cities crossed 40 degrees Celsius this month, enough to make people wonder just how brutal the summer ahead is going to be.
Rajkot topped the state’s heat chart in the past 24 hours at 40.6°C. Bhuj came in close at 39.6°C, Amreli at 39.5°C, and Surat at 39.2°C. Heatwave conditions were recorded in isolated pockets of Rajkot and Surendranagar districts. At the other extreme, Naliya tucked up in Kutch was the state’s coolest spot at 16.4°C.
The IMD expects some relief, though modest. Temperatures should ease by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius gradually over the next three days. After that, don’t expect much change. March 14 through 17 will stay dry across the state.
The more interesting shift comes later. On March 18, light rain and thundershowers are likely in Banaskantha, Patan, and Kutch the northern districts most exposed to western weather systems. By March 19, that rain could spread considerably: isolated showers are forecast for South Gujarat including Vadodara, Surat, and Bharuch, along with Saurashtra districts Rajkot, Amreli, and Bhavnagar.
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