India and neighboring Pakistan are suffering from extreme heat waves this year, which are melting sidewalks, forcing schools to close and warning of health and fires.
Northwest and central India recorded average maximum temperatures of 35.9 C and 37.78 C, respectively, in April, the director general of the Indian Meteorological Department told reporters.
These were the highest since the department began keeping records 122 years ago, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.
A boy swims in the Ranbir canal to cool off on a hot summer day in Jammu, India, on Saturday. Summer in India lasts from April to June. (Channi Anand / The Associated Press)
More than a billion people are at risk from heat-related effects in the region, scientists have warned, linking the early onset of a hot summer with climate change. Summer in India lasts from April to June.
For the first time in decades, Pakistan has gone from winter to summer without spring, Pakistani Federal Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said on Saturday.
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A man uses his mobile phone as he sits between outdoor air conditioners in the back of a commercial building in New Delhi on Saturday. (Adnan Abidi / Reuters)
