GANGTOK: The eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim continued to swelter, hitting a weather milestone with a temperature of 26.8 degrees Celsius on September. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, it is the first time the state has experienced a hot September since record-keeping began in 1969.
Gopinath Raha, head of IMD Gangtok, said that temperatures all through Septemberespecially in the last week-have risen by 3-6 degrees Celsius above the normal for the month.
The record goes to show that this has been the hottest September for Sikkim on record, since data was available from as far back as 1969 until 2024, with the average temperature breaking all records by registering at an unprecedented 24 degrees Celsius.
So far, there have been 11 days in which the temperatures have crossed 25 degrees Celsius. The temperature ranged between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius from September 6 to 13, while it maintained the same trend from September 18 to 23.
Tadong, some 1,500 feet below Gangtok touched a record high of 33.1 degrees Celsius on September 21, the highest ever recorded day in September. The heatwave did not spare Sikkim alone for Darjeeling, too faced very high temperatures, on September 21 reached 28.2 degrees Celsius.
However, relief may come starting September 24 in the form of cooler temperatures and the possibility of rain and thunderstorms as a result of cyclonic circulation in the Bay of Bengal, says Raha.
Raha says that the monsoon normally begins in the state between late May and lasts till the end of September, sometimes till the middle of October. This season has its own irregularities though. Raha explained that since June usually sees heavy rainfall, it was actually expected.
The first two months of the monsoon did see a 66 percent increase, but July witnessed 18 percent more rainfall than usual. Since then, there was a rainfall deficit, with only a 9 percent rise above normal levels.
Sikkim experiences some rainfall during the dry season due to western disturbances. But all these disturbances are now shifting towards the northern hemisphere, and therefore the oddness of weather is on the rise.
According to officials at the regional weather office, the seven northeastern states-Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh-had been witnessing heatwave-like conditions in the last few days.
Assam, in fact, has witnessed negligible to nil rainfall in the last few days, and the officials at the regional meteorological office at Guwahati say that these dry conditions are likely to remain the same for another 3-4 days.
In Meghalaya, capital Shillong touched 28.1°C, 4.9°C above normal, while Arunachal Pradesh's Pasighat recorded 38°C Thursday, a whopping 7°C above normal.
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