Shreyas H S
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Mar 20: Though some sections of the media have reported that temperature has reached a peak of 42-44°C for the first time in the history of coastal belt, even overtaking North Karnataka, director of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Bangalore, B Puttanna speaking to daijiworld rubbished the reports as being baseless.
He said Dakshina Kannada district has witnessed 37.6° Celsius in the last week and currently it has dropped to 36° C.
Straight away terming the reports as false, he contended that as per the IMD observation the district on March 13, 1985 had witnessed 38.1° and never till date has the temperature crossed this record.
However, in this decade, particularly on March 9, 2008 temperature was same as last week, recorded at 37.6°C. In case if there was even a 0.1 difference recorded by the observatory in Mangalore, IMD would have issued a bulletin declaring ‘highest temperature recorded in this decade’.
He called this phenomenon as common during the summer especially in the month of March. "Since the wind blows from land to sea, it does not carry moisture with it and in affect influences the weather. This is the actual reason for the increase in the temperature. In case the wind reverses (sea to land) temperature will decrease, with wind carrying more moisture with it. Temperature during the course of the next few days is likely to come down," he added.
He added that hobli to hobli there cannot be a difference of more than a degree, and hence within a district the temperature would be more or less uniform.
"Coastal district recording temperature above 40° Celsius is a highly unusual phenomenon. After the rumour got circulated in the district people began to feel more heat than earlier," he quipped.
On the other side, North Karnataka has shown some changes in the weather and heat is below normal, at 38° Celsius.
Director also urged people not to rely on unauthentic data with regard to temperature and follow IMD bulletins to know about the forecast.