Officials ban daytime cooking in killer heat wave

Saturday, April 30, 2016, 5:51 PM -

Officials in parts of India have banned daytime cooking as the country swelters in a record-setting deadly heat wave.

The eastern state of Bihar issued a decree on Friday banning any cooking between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the wake of accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 people. With the threat of rapidly-spreading fires very real in hot, dry, and windy conditions, those violating the ban - which includes burning spent crops and fires in Hindu prayer ceremonies - risk up to a year in prison.

April and May are typically the hottest months in India, in the dry season before monsoon rains arrive in June. Last winter's strong El Niño event has exacerbated conditions. The oscillation disrupts convective activity over the tropical Pacific Ocean, which in turn leads to hotter and drier conditions over Southeast Asia during the spring.

Skyrocketing temperatures have already claimed more than 300 lives in India this month, with some 330 million people - one quarter of India's population - seeing record highs set. Titlagarh, in the state of Orissa, set an all-time record for the month of April on the 24th, when the daytime high topped out at 48^oC.

YK Reddy, with the India Meteorological Department, told the Guardian temperatures have been averaging 4 to 5 degrees warmer than usual for April across a broad region. He expected conditions to worsen before the monsoon arrives in June, as May is traditionally the hottest month in the country.

Drought conditions across the western state of Maharashtra are now the worst they've been in the past 40 years. The government is providing aid to the millions of people impacted by water shortages by trucking in up to 2.5 million litres daily, but the supply still doesn't meet the demand. A resident told Reuters he'd waited three hours to fill two pitchers. "The government says it is bringing water by train every day, but we are getting water once a week."

Sources: Guardian | Mashable | Time | Wall Street Journal | Reuters | 

Watch: Similar conditions last year killed some 2,500 people.