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Kerala sizzles as mercury stays above 35 degrees

KOCHI: Kerala is feeling the sweltering summer heat as most districts recorded temperatures above 35 degrees. India Meteorological Department ( IMD ) officials said that mercury levels are likely to shoot up further as there are no major showers in March to bring down the temperature .


“We get summer showers in April and May.

IMD’s long-term prediction from March to May is 0.5 to 1.5 degrees rise in temperature. Dry weather will continue this month,” said IMD regional director K Santhosh.



The weather department said that Punalur in Kollam reported an isolated rain of 1cm. Not much change in maximum temperature was seen in Kerala during the past 24 hours. However, it was above normal in Alappuzha, Kottayam & Kozhikode. In other districts, it remained normal. Minimum temperatures were above normal in Kannur, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram.

Palakkad town and its neighbouring areas continued to report a high temperature over 39 degrees, with no respite even at night. Vellanikkara in Thrissur came next with 37.7 degrees followed by Punalur at 37.6 degrees on Tuesday morning.

A comparison of places that had recorded high temperatures showed that Punalur recorded the highest last year at 38.2 degrees on March 11 while in 2017, it recorded 38 degrees on March 15. Last year, the highest temperature recorded in Thiruvananthapuram was 35.9 degrees on March 31. In 2017, it was 36.4 degrees. Kochi recorded 34.2 degrees on March 13, 2018 while in 2017, it recorded 35 degrees in March.

Meanwhile, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services issued an alert for Kerala stating the sea would be rough near shore along the coast due to the high period of swell waves. Fishermen were warned as the waves will be 1.8-2.2m high.

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