India, March 28 -- The basic criteria for IMD to declare a heatwave currently does not includetake into account relative humidity, which is increasingly becoming a cause of humid heatwaves

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared 2024's first heatwave conditions for isolated pockets of west Rajasthan on March 27, 2024. But there are many more places that likely suffered from humid heatwaves and will continue to do so in the next few days. These are not being accounted for in IMD's heatwave data.

The basic criteria for IMD to declare a heatwave is when the temperature of a place crosses 40 degrees Celsius (degC) in the plains, 37degC in the coastal areas and 30degC in the hills. These temperature values are the thresholds set b...