Bengaluru city sees hottest March day in last 5 years: Report

The IMD had earlier issued a heatwave warning over Karnataka upon seeing rising temperatures, which crossed the 40-degree-Celsius mark.

Bengaluru city broke yet another weather record on Friday by witnessing its warmest March day in the past five years, having recorded a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees Celsius. The normal average expected temperature for the last week of March is 34.2 degrees Celsius.

Bengaluru, as well as the rest of Karnataka, is witnessing slightly above normal temperatures.(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The highest maximum temperature that Bengaluru has ever seen in the month of March is 37.3 degrees Celsius, which was recorded in 1996, the Deccan Herald reported.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), said Friday's 36.4 degrees Celsius maximum temperature made for the third hottest day in a decade and the fourth hottest day in the last 15 years. The weather agency had earlier forecasted above normal temperatures in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru did not receive light rainfall in the last week of March as expected because the wind is now blowing in the opposite direction, and that there is wind discontinuity between Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, a senior official from the IMD told the publication.

The department had earlier issued a heatwave warning over the southern state of Karnataka upon seeing rising temperatures, which crossed the 40-degree-Celsius mark. Maximum temperatures are very likely to rise by two to three degrees Celsius at isolated places over North and South Interior Karnataka during the next five days, the IMD said on Wednesday.

In relief from the scorching heat expected next month, the agency forecasted moderate to heavy rainfall in Bengaluru from the second week of April onwards. Bengaluru may witness slightly more rainfall than normal in April, it said.

Bengaluru broke a number of weather records in 2022 - by seeing its wettest April in seven years, coolest day of May in 10 years, wettest June in a decade, highest daily rainfall in July in 14 years, the wettest September day since 2014 and the coldest October day in over a decade. The city saw its warmest December in a decade last year.