The Meteorological Department will investigate the unusually warm weather in Maharashtra where the mercury apparently touched 46.5°C on Tuesday, reported PTI. The weather department will send an observer from its Mumbai office to Bhira on Friday, as they suspect that their centre in Raigad district recorded an incorrect temperature.

“When the temperature [at Bhira] was reported to be 46.5°C, we realised that something is wrong as no other place nearby recorded so high a temperature,” SG Kamble, the divisional in-charge of Regional Meteorological Department at Colaba in Mumbai, told PTI. The temperature mapping equipment belonged to Met department, but those recording the temperature at Bhira are not its employees. However, the agency had trained these employees.

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Kamble further explained that the geographical location of Bhira makes such a high temperature an even more unusual event. “Bhira village is located in the Sahyadri mountains in Raigad. It is a village close to a dam. The mountains are covered with dense forest. The height of the mountains around Bhira would be minimum 2,000 feet. In such a situation, if the mapping centre shows 46.5°C, it should be doubted,” he added.

But Bhira was not an exception on Tuesday. Parts of northwest, west and central India have already seen temperatures soar by 4°C to 6°C. Over the past two days, mercury surpassed the 40°C mark in Vidarbha, western Rajasthan, Marathwada and Saurashtra. Temperatures were 5°C to 6°C above normal even in Mumbai, Pune and Thane. Delhi also hit 38°C on Tuesday.

The IMD has warned that the heatwave is “very likely” to continue in western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Marathwada, Vidarbha and parts of Rajasthan this week. While the IMD attributed this current spell of heatwave to the prevailing winds and clear sky conditions, Skymet Weather said it was because of a spike in dry northerly-northeasterly winds.