Banda hottest in country again, IMD puts Uttar Pradesh on red alert for 3 days
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📌 Summary:
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Uttar Pradesh's Banda district again recorded the highest temperature in India — 47.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday — as several states reeled under intense heat.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a "red alert" (its highest weather warning, meaning "take action") for Uttar Pradesh for the next three days, followed by an orange alert as severity is expected to ease slightly, with warm nights at isolated places.
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The IMD attributed the extreme heat to an absence of any active weather system, enhanced radiational heating from clear, dry skies, and the subsidence of hot winds linked to an anticyclone over central India at mid-tropospheric levels.
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Other UP districts saw extreme readings — Prayagraj 46.4, Hamirpur 46.2, Jhansi 45.9 degrees Celsius — and dry heat has begun hitting agricultural activity and commercial establishments; Delhi had an orange alert with temperatures near 46 degrees Celsius.
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In contrast, the IMD forecast widespread light-to-moderate rainfall with thunderstorms over northeastern, eastern and peninsular India, including Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 (disaster management) and GS1 (geography — climatology) — heatwaves as a notified disaster, the meteorological drivers of extreme heat, and the role of early-warning colour-coded alerts.
📝 Prelims Facts:
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IMD weather warnings are colour-coded: Green (no action), Yellow (watch), Orange (be prepared), Red (take action).
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An anticyclone is a system of descending, diverging air with high pressure at the centre, which suppresses cloud formation and intensifies surface heating.
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A heatwave in the plains is generally declared when the maximum temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius or more and the departure from normal crosses a set threshold.
🔑 Key Term: Heatwave — a period of abnormally high temperatures, recognised in India as a notified disaster eligible for management under State Disaster Response Fund norms.
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