Clear skies push Andhra past 39°C, but CWC says it is not a heatwave

Clear skies and missing cloud cover pushed maximum temperatures above 39°C across parts of Andhra Pradesh on 1 September 2026, though Cyclone Warning Centre Visakhapatnam head P.L.N. Murthy said the readings did not amount to a heatwave.

Ongole and Kavali were hottest at 39.3°C each, followed by Nellore at 39°C and Bapatla at 38.9°C, according to the India Meteorological Department Meteorological Centre, Amaravati. Tuni recorded 38.1°C, Tirupati 38°C, Visakhapatnam airport 37.4°C, Kakinada 37.1°C and Visakhapatnam city 36°C. Departures from normal were wide: Bapatla 5.1°C above, Kavali 4.8°C, Visakhapatnam 4.6°C, Kakinada 4.4°C, with Tuni, Ongole and the Visakhapatnam airport station each about 4.3°C above normal.

Murthy said the absence of low-level stratus clouds that normally shade the monsoon sky left the ground under direct insolation. He added that maxima between 37°C and 39°C on 1 September were not unusual in themselves, and that the State was almost entirely dry that day. A well-marked low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal lay too far north to influence Andhra weather, he said.

The Meteorological Centre’s district-level forecast still offered isolated light to moderate rain across all districts over the next seven days, with strong surface winds of 40–50 kmph likely at isolated places in Visakhapatnam and several other districts over five days. Murthy hoped for better rainfall later in September if a low forms over the west-central Bay and crosses the State. He noted that October opens the post-monsoon cyclone season and that Andhra and Tamil Nadu draw a substantial share of annual rain from the northeast monsoon, while strong El Niño conditions prevail this year. Past-season studies, he said, showed systems forming near the Andaman Sea in El Niño years tending to intensify toward the Andhra coast.

For public health desks, a non-heatwave label does not cancel heat stress for outdoor workers, students and the elderly when coastal towns sit near 39°C under clear sun. Reservoir notes from Visakhapatnam also pointed to receding levels at Mudasarlova after a prolonged dry spell. The 1 September facts are the station-wise maxima, the CWC non-heatwave call, the cloud-cover explanation, the weekly rain-and-wind forecast, and the El Niño–cyclone seasonal caution. Heatwave criteria are technical; lived heat is not. Outdoor workers in Ongole, Kavali and Nellore still face 39°C-class maxima under direct sun when monsoon clouds fail. Public advisories usually stress hydration, shade breaks and care for the elderly even when the formal heatwave tag is withheld. Reservoir recession at Mudasarlova, noted alongside the Visakhapatnam readings, adds a water-stress rhyme to the temperature story.

Murthy’s El Niño and cyclone-season remarks push the horizon beyond one hot Tuesday. If September lows fail to organise over the Bay, dry spells can lengthen; if systems intensify on the Andhra coast later, the same districts that baked on 1 September could swing into rain-and-wind alerts. The IMD’s seven-day isolated-rain forecast is the near-term relief line; the CWC’s non-heatwave call is the classification line. Both can be true at once.