Nepal’s Meteorological Forecasting Division issued a heatwave warning on Thursday as temperatures in the Tarai districts of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini provinces edged toward 40 degrees Celsius. The warning came with a blunt forecast: hot days are likely in the plains, and in the valleys and basins of the other provinces as well.
In the western Tarai, the heat is already doing damage. Dhangadhi hit 39.2 degrees Celsius on Thursday, Nepalgunj reached 39.9 degrees and Bhairahawa logged 38.9 degrees. A day earlier, Bhairahawa climbed to 40.8 degrees, while Nepalgunj stood at 39.5 degrees, Dipayal at 39 degrees and Dhangadhi at 39 degrees. Simara recorded 36.5 degrees on Thursday, Dipayal 38 degrees and Birendranagar 36.8 degrees.
David Dhakal said heat wave conditions would continue on Friday and Saturday in the western Tarai. By Saturday, some hilly districts of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces could see light rainfall, but the met office said the immediate risk remains concentrated in the hot southern belt. Heat wave conditions occur when maximum and minimum temperatures at a location stay unusually high for three straight days.
The health strain is starting to show in Dhangadhi, where doctors at Seti Provincial Hospital said the number of patients with fever and diarrhoeal disease has begun to rise. Dr Sher Bahadur Kamar said more than 40 such patients come to the hospital every day. In Nepalgunj, doctors at Bheri Hospital said cases of heat stroke and renal problems have not yet started. Rajan Pandey said cases of water-borne, food-borne and vector-borne disease will increase once rainfall begins.
Temperatures are rising across much of the country, and doctors say Tarai health facilities could be overwhelmed in the coming days because many have long been short of equipment and staff. Last year, heat wave conditions affected hundreds of people in the country’s southern belt, and this year’s warning suggests the season is arriving with the same force and very little room for relief.
