Heat Waves, Thundershowers Forecast for AP till April 21

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is likely to experience heat waves with possible thundershowers with lightning till April 21, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast in its bulletin on Friday.

The bulletin underlined the persistence of north-south trough from Marathwada to Gulf of Mannar across interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu at 0.9 km above mean sea level.

Under its influence, thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and strong surface wind speeds reaching 30-40 kmph are likely at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam. At the same time, heat waves are likely to continue at isolated places over Rayalaseema, while hot and humid conditions are likely to occur at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam.

These weather conditions are expected to prevail till April 21, the IMD bulletin said.

In the interim, Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority managing director Prakhar Jain predicted that varied weather conditions are likely to prevail across the state over the next two days. While some regions may continue to experience intense heat, others could see cloudy skies along with unseasonal rains accompanied by lightning.

Friday witnessed a maximum temperature of 45.5 degrees Celsius in Kadapa. Overall, temperatures above 40 degrees have been recorded in 299 mandals across the state, including Kadapa, Nandyal, Kurnool, Anantapur, Tirupati, Sri Sathya Sai, Markapuram, Palnadu, Annamayya, Nellore, and Prakasam.

Severe heat-wave conditions are likely to affect certain mandals on Saturday, particularly in Vijayanagaram, Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Polavaram, and Eluru districts.