North India and parts of western, central and eastern India area already reeling under an intense heat wave. Even by the Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) weather projections, severe heat wave conditions are going to prevail over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Delhi, Vidarbha, and Telangana.

In what has been recorded as the hottest summer in 52 years, 80 people have died across the country, with Rajasthan recording a maximum temperature of 44.6 degrees in mid-April. Temperatures have been five to six degrees above normal, with even Jammu registering a record 40 degrees C.

Rajasthan remains the most intensely hit, with maximum temperature crossing 40 degrees C in all 33 districts of the state, six degrees above normal. Ganganagar has registered 43 degrees C, and people are saying the summer is too early and too hot for this time of year.

With the hotter part of the summer still to come in May and June, weekly warnings put out by the IMD are unlikely to give people much respite. Neither is is likely to help states and the central government prepare to cope with the effects of the heat wave.