India is no stranger to high temperatures but they don’t normally occur in March and April, when many people aren’t used to dealing with extreme heat
Temperatures reached 39°C in New Delhi, India, on 2 May
Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times/Shutterstock
India is reeling from a fresh heatwave that began on 7 May. It follows weeks of extreme heat throughout much of the north of the country in March and April that saw temperatures reach more than 46°C and approach 49°C in neighbouring Pakistan.
“This kind of heat is not unknown in north India during the summer before the monsoon,” says Ulka Kelkar, director of the World Resources Institute’s climate programme in India. “The difference this time is …