India, Pakistan shut schools in several cities as temperatures soar

By Ahmad Adil and Aamir Latif

NEW DELHI/KARACHI (AA) – Authorities in several parts of India and Pakistan have announced the closure of schools amid heat waves.

On Monday, the India Meteorological Department said the Najafgarh area in the capital New Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 47.4C (117.32F). Many other cities in the country have recorded temperatures over 45C (113F).

Amid the hot weather, authorities in New Delhi have asked schools in the capital to close for summer vacation with immediate effect.

Several other states have also announced such closures in view of the hot weather.

On Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department said that “heat wave to severe heat wave” conditions would most likely continue over the plains of northwestern India as well as heat wave conditions over north Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat State during the next five days.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, told Anadolu that over the last few days, most of the northern parts of India have been witnessing heat wave conditions and severe hot weather is expected until the end of May.

“Many cities will see temperatures around 45C-46C in the coming days. The second half of May is considered the hottest in the season, so heat waves are expected,” he said. “Since this time, we haven’t seen any pre-monsoon thunderstorms during this period, so temperatures have remained high.”

In Pakistan, the government announced that it will shut all public and private schools in northeastern Punjab province for a week as a severe heat wave is expected to sweep most parts of the country over the coming days.

Schools will remain closed from May 25-31 to ensure students’ safety.

Pakistan is currently sizzling with temperatures between 38C (100.4F) and 43C (109.4), which are likely to soar to 46C (114.8F) next week.