Jammu, April 28 -- The mercury is rising and so is the alarm. Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir, is sweltering under one of its most intense April heat spells in recent memory. Over the past fortnight, the city has transitioned sharply from merely warm to outright scorching, with daytime temperatures regularly breaching 39degC and peaking at a punishing 40.2degC between April 22-26. To put that in perspective, these readings are 5 to 7 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average, a staggering deviation that
meteorologists say cannot be brushed aside as routine summer heat.
On April 27, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a formal heatwave alert for
five districts in the Jammu division Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, a...