Hailstorms tore through Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, snapping the heatwave that had gripped the state for days and dragging maximum temperatures below 40 degrees Celsius across most cities. The relief, however, comes with a warning: the India Meteorological Department has issued storm alerts for 36 districts on Wednesday.
Winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour are forecast for Neemuch, Mandsaur and Agar-Malwa. Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Bhopal and dozens of other districts remain on alert for strong thunderstorms and rain.
The storms have already claimed lives. In Neemuch district, a mother and her son died Monday night when the roof of a dilapidated house collapsed during the storm. In Dewas, strong winds uprooted trees across the city and surrounding villages, and tore the tin roofs off two homes in Marethi village, injuring six to seven members of a single family.
In Indore’s Vijay Nagar neighbourhood, a tin shed ripped from a building and landed on a moving car, shattering its windshield.
Temperatures Fall Across the State
Tuesday brought measurable relief from the heat. Bhopal and Gwalior recorded 37 degrees Celsius. Ujjain reached 37.5 degrees, Indore 38.2 degrees, and Jabalpur 38.7 degrees. Pachmarhi, the state’s hill station, was the coolest at 34.4 degrees.
Only Khandwa, at 40.1 degrees, and Khajuraho, at 40 degrees, stayed above the threshold. No heatwave was recorded anywhere in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
The day-night temperature gap has narrowed by as much as 10 degrees in some areas since the storms began.
Monsoon Still Weeks Away
Despite the rain, the monsoon has not arrived. The IMD says the current activity is driven by a western disturbance, a pre-monsoon weather system — not the monsoon proper.
The monsoon typically enters Madhya Pradesh from the south around June 15. This year, it has not yet reached Kerala. Since the monsoon usually takes around 15 days to travel from Kerala to central India, the IMD now expects it to arrive in Madhya Pradesh between June 20 and June 22 — five to seven days later than normal.
Last year, the monsoon entered the state on June 16, one day behind schedule. The IMD projects this year’s monsoon rainfall will reach roughly 90 percent of normal levels.
Stormy weather is forecast to continue across Madhya Pradesh for at least the next four days. The IMD says there is no heatwave alert anywhere in the state through June 6.
The storms, while destructive in places, have ended weeks of punishing heat that saw mercury cross 47 degrees Celsius in Khajuraho in May — a record for the city.
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