New Delhi, Mar 1 (Agencies) : IN LINE with the global trend, 2016 was one of the warmest years on record for India, the Met department said on Tuesday, while predicting hotter than usual summer in 2017 till June at least. In its summer outlook for this year, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that temperatures — minimum, maximum as well as the mean — are likely to be “above normal” till June in every meteorological sub-division of the country. Northwest India and the plains near the Himalayas are likely to face particularly warmer summer this year with temperatures likely to be more than 1°C above normal.

The IMD said the deviation from the normal temperature would reduce progressively while moving towards the southern regions of the country. It said there was “47 per cent probability” of maximum temperatures being more than normal in the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, and a few other regions. It warned that these areas were likely to experience “above normal moderate to severe heat wave conditions” during this period.

The IMD said “border line” to “weak” La Nina conditions were currently prevailing over the Pacific Ocean and these were likely to weaken further and become neutral ahead of the monsoon season. As such, the sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean were unlikely to have any influence on the summer temperatures over the country, it said. It said 2016 happened to be the warmest year for India since 1901.