Kutch and North Gujarat was the hottest pocket along with Southwest Madhya Pradesh during the last 24 hours. Bhuj, the largest town of Kutch was the second hottest at 39.5°C competing with Khargone (Madhya Pradesh) in the neighbourhood at 40.8°C. Deesa and Patan in North Gujarat were close second at 39°C each, about 4-5°C above the normal. Even the coastal station, Porbandar touched 39°C, soaring 6°C above the average. Match venue Ahmedabad stopped short of 39°C (38.7°C) along with few others like Rajkot (38.9°C) and Amreli (38.6°C). Some pockets in Gujarat have been reeling under heatwave with dry and hot winds sweeping across the region.
Twist in the weather conditions is likely and searing heat is expected to abate shortly. Multiple weather systems are joining hands to lash the neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Mild activity may even spill over South and Central Gujarat resulting in a cloudy sky with narrow chances of light showers over Surat, Silvassa, Valsad, Navsari, Dang, Tapi and Chhota Udaipur. Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Baroda also stand a feeble chance of light rain between 19thand 20th March. Even in the absence of rain, a changed wind pattern may take the pinch out of sweltering heat. Day temperatures in Gujarat may drop by 2-3°C to slacken and relieve most parts.
With vernal equinox poised for 20th March, extreme heat over most of Gujarat state builds up and stays till the arrival of monsoon in mid-June. From here on the state becomes hot, hotter and hottest for the entire pre-monsoon season with very short breaks in between. Rarely the state gets any thunderstorm or dust storm from March to May to release the heat. The month of May remains the hottest with insignificant rainfall throughout the season.
