Ahmedabad: Monday was a scorcher of a day, with mercury touching 41.2°C, a singeing seven degrees above normal. There was no room for respite with even the minimum temperature at 21.8 degrees was 3.9 degrees above normal. And to say, this is just the start of summer, and also the first day of the three-day yellow alert issued by the India meteorological department (IMD) for Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Botad, and Kutch. Hot and humid conditions are likely to prevail across coastal areas of the state from south Gujarat to Kutch, IMD has stated.The maximum temperature in Ahmedabad for Tuesday is likely to be around 41°C and the minimum around 22°C. Sagarika Shah, a resident of Prahladnagar, said: “I am a marketing executive and have to move around a lot for my work. The heat got to me today. Despite ensuring that I stay hydrated, I felt uneasy throughout the day.”The forecast indicates no change in maximum and minimum temperatures across Gujarat for the next three days, after which the maximum temperature will fall by 2-3 degrees and there will be no change in the minimum temperature.Ashok Kumar Das, head of IMD Ahmedabad, said that the sudden rise in temperature was due to the northerly and north-westerly wind direction that brought in hot winds from Rajasthan. “As the start of March generally has lower temperatures, the departure from normal is also higher for several weather stations, resulting in a yellow alert,” he said.Analysis of data from previous years indicates that Gujarat usually begins experiencing maximum temperatures above 40 degrees in the second half mostly of March, mostly the last week. However, the trend changed in 2025, when Ahmedabad experienced temperatures around 40 degrees by the third week.This year its hotter than usual just over a week into March, due to change in wind directions, said meteorologists. The IMD has forecast above-normal temperatures for the region in its long-range forecast for March.
