Heatwave grips central, northwest India as monsoon stays offshore
Visitors hold umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching heat on a hot summer day, near the India Gate in New Delhi on May 24, 2026, during a heat wave sweeping across northern India. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Large parts of central and northwestern India were gripped by a punishing heatwave on Wednesday, May 27, 2026; The southwest monsoon is yet to reach Kerala, its entry point into the subcontinent.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Banda in Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest temperature of the season with the mercury touching 47.4°C on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Maximum temperatures ranged from 45°C to 47°C in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Vidarbha (Maharashtra); It ranged from 40°C to 45°C in most of the rest of the country except the northeast, western Himalayas, west coast and interior parts of Tamil Nadu.
Prime Minister Modi’s objection
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through He warned that children, the elderly and those working outdoors were particularly vulnerable and urged people to keep containers of water outside homes and shops for birds and animals.
IMD said heatwave and severe heatwave conditions prevailed in isolated areas in eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Rajasthan, while heatwave conditions were also recorded in eastern Madhya Pradesh, southern Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, western Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and parts of Chhattisgarh. Such conditions are likely to persist over central and northwestern India for the next two to three days before tapering off from May 29, the meteorological office said.
Relief may be imminent for northern India with a new western disturbance that will affect northwestern India from May 28 and cause maximum temperatures to drop by 6°C to 8°C in the region between May 28-30, causing thunderstorms, wind gusts of up to 70 kmph, hail and dust storms.
Severe impact: UN official
Simon Stiell, secretary-general of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said much of India was experiencing a “punishing summer of extreme heat” with serious human and economic impacts, and said this trend was attributed mainly to worsening climate change caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas. He noted that India has seen record demand for electricity in recent days, with solar power and other renewable energy sources helping to meet daytime peaks.
On monsoon, the IMD said that the southwest monsoon is moving towards the Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep region and parts of the Bay of Bengal as on May 27. Its arrival in Kerala, where IMD has set a forecast window around May 26, falls within the four-day margin of error in the official forecast, with favorable conditions for further progress in the next two to three days.
The upcoming season is marred by the possibility of El Niño, the Pacific warming pattern that usually suppresses monsoon rains in India. By mid-May, the Equatorial Pacific was rapidly transitioning to El Niño conditions; Weekly sea surface temperature anomalies in the Niño3.4 region reached precisely +0.9°C.
Forecasters predict a 98% chance of El Niño during the May-July period. IMD has already predicted below-normal monsoon rainfall for 2026; This is a worrying situation for nearly 60% of Indian farmers who depend on seasonal rains for kharif crops.
It was published – 27 May 2026 08:42 IST
