The India Meteorological Department put out its morning press release today, and the headline is blunt: heat wave conditions are likely over the plains of northwest and central India during the next 3–4 days.
That warning covers a very large geography. Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi — all of it is under a heat advisory right now.
Also Read | Delhi Just Hit 40°C Again — And IMD Says This Is Just the Warm-Up Act
What the Numbers Look Like
In Odisha's Jharsuguda, recorded a scorching 44.6 degrees Celsius today, the highest in the entire country.
Madhya Pradesh has been also seeing a heatwave alert for several days now. The India Meteorological Department in Bhopal issued a heatwave alert for 19 districts. These include Gwalior, Bhind, Datia, Niwari, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Satna, Raisen, Narmadapuram, Chhindwara, Pandhurna, Seoni, Mandla, Balaghat, Ratlam, Jhabua, Dhar, and Alirajpur.
That is nearly the entire state, effectively. Raisen recorded 42.4 degrees Celsius, while Narsinghpur and Sidhi touched 42 degrees. Tikamgarh and Ratlam saw 41.8 degrees, Datia 41.7 degrees, and Shajapur 41.6 degrees.
The Cities You Live In
Mumbai may see partly cloudy skies with chances of light rain, while Delhi is likely to remain warm under hazy sunshine. Chennai is expected to stay hot and humid, whereas Bengaluru and Hyderabad could witness evening showers with intermittent cloud cover. Kolkata may experience thunderstorms along with high humidity levels, while Shimla is likely to remain relatively cool with cloudy conditions.
So Mumbai gets a minor reprieve. Delhi does not. Kolkata residents have an entirely different problem — not heat alone, but the kind of violent storm that can knock trees down.
When the East Gets Hit
The IMD has issued thunderstorm and rainfall alerts across 13 states, including Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, and Meghalaya.
Isolated places in Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu experienced Kalbaisakhi-like storms, with wind speeds hitting 50 to 95 km/h. The strong winds uprooted many trees and disrupted power supply.
For those outside Bengal, Kalbaisakhi is the seasonal nor'wester — the storm that arrives without polite notice and leaves destruction behind. Farmers in those states are already worried.
Parts of Assam and Central Maharashtra have seen heavy hailstorms over the last few hours. Farmers are now worried about major crop damage due to this sudden hailstorm.
That is not a small concern. Rabi crops that have survived the harvest window and summer fruits — mangoes, melons — are all vulnerable to hailstone damage. Insurance claims from farmers after such events take months to process, and many small landholders simply absorb the loss.
The Night Temperature Problem
One detail that does not get enough attention in daily weather reporting: the nights are not cooling down properly. States like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh are recording minimum night temperatures that are much higher than normal.
This matters for two reasons. First, the human body needs the night to recover from heat stress. If the night stays warm, heat fatigue accumulates. Hospital admissions for heatstroke and dehydration tend to climb in these conditions. Second, for crops — particularly wheat in its final ripening stage — night cooling is critical. A warm night combined with a hot day accelerates grain shrivelling.
Some Relief in the Pipeline — But Not Yet
The IMD predicted that parts of northeast and eastern India including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir are likely to witness scattered to widespread rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning throughout the week.
For the battered plains of UP and Punjab, this is welcome news — but only if the rain arrives as a gentle shower and not as a destructive squall. Gusty winds with rainfall can damage standing crops and electricity infrastructure simultaneously.
What Farmers, Truckers, and Construction Workers Need to Know Right Now
- Avoid outdoor work between noon and 4 PM across all of northwest and central India
- Keep animals in shade with adequate water
- Roads in Bihar and Bengal may see fallen trees and debris through the weekend
- Mango growers in Vidarbha and Marathwada — hailstorm damage assessment should begin immediately
The Monsoon Context
We are roughly 5–7 weeks away from the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala, which typically arrives in the first week of June. This severe pre-monsoon heat is not a sign of a delayed monsoon. IMD's long-range forecast for the 2026 southwest monsoon season was separately released today. Specific predictions from that forecast are awaited, but the extended range model covers April 23 to May 6, 2026 — a window that will show how the northern plains will transition.
Closing Observation
Forty years of reporting Indian summers and one thing stays constant: it is always the poor and the outdoor worker who bear the worst of this. The construction labourer pouring concrete at noon in Gurgaon. The auto-rickshaw driver without an air-conditioned cabin. The daily-wage sugarcane cutter in UP. The heat index for them is not a meteorological abstraction — it is a daily survival calculation. The IMD warning reaches smartphones. The question is whether it reaches the people who need it most.
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FAQs:
- Which state has the highest temperature in India today, April 24, 2026? Odisha's Jharsuguda recorded 44.6°C, the highest nationally.
- How many states have thunderstorm alerts today? IMD has issued alerts for 13 states including Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, and Meghalaya.
- Will there be relief from heatwave this weekend? Scattered rainfall expected in UP, Punjab, and Haryana from April 24–26, but heatwave persists in Rajasthan and MP.
- When does the monsoon arrive? Southwest monsoon typically makes landfall over Kerala in the first week of June.
- What areas in MP are under heatwave today? 19 districts including Gwalior, Bhind, Ratlam, and Alirajpur are under IMD heatwave alert.
