Last month was the hottest February India experienced since 1901, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.

The weather department started maintaining the records in 1901.

The India Meteorological Department noted that there was an increase of 1.34 degrees Celsius in the average temperature in the month, up from the normal of 20.70 degrees Celsius to 22.04 degrees Celsius.

It noted that there was an increase of 1.49 degrees Celsius in the maximum temperature in the country in February, up from the normal of 27.58 degrees Celsius to 29.07 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the all-India average monthly minimum temperature was 15.02 degrees Celsius against a normal of 13.82 degrees Celsius.

February saw warmer nights in the northern and northwestern regions of India, which in turn also kept fog conditions away from the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Above-normal temperatures, heatwave

The weather department also said that India is likely to experience above-normal temperatures and more heatwave days between March and May.

“Above-normal number of heatwave days are likely over most parts of the country except over northeast India, extreme north India and southwestern and southern parts of peninsular India,” said Sivananda Damodara Pai, the agency’s director general of meteorology.

The states expected to experience higher summer temperatures include Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and the northern regions of Karnataka.

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