(Bloomberg) -- Hotter-than-normal temperatures may continue to singe northern and western India in May, where readings are near the highest in 122 years, the country's official weather forecaster said.
Temperatures may reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees fahrenheit) in the region, adversely affecting crops and industrial activity, the India Meteorological Department said on Saturday. Still, most parts of the South Asian nation may receive normal to higher-than-normal rainfall during the month, according to Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the head of the weather bureau.
Parts of India witnessed the hottest March and April on record, putting lives and livelihoods at risk in the nation of 1.3 billion people. Thermometer readings have already reached 46 degrees Celsius in central and northern India, with two months to go before the monsoon season that typically brings cooling rains. The intense warmth is also threatening to aggravate India's power crisis as demand for cooling appliances soars.
The states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra are expected to be the worst affected. Conditions may improve temporarily after May 1 with the arrival of pre-monsoon showers, which may reduce the number of hotter-than-normal days during the month compared with March and April.
Read More: India Braces for Prolonged, Record-Breaking Heat Waves
Higher-than-normal rains in eastern India may skew the average temperature and rainfall readings for the country. The agency is working with states and the federal government's disaster management arm to get early warnings to those on the ground, Mohapatra had said in an earlier interview in New Delhi.
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