The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that southern parts of the country are likely to see slightly below normal seasonal temperatures for the upcoming summer as compared to the rest of the country. 

"The upcoming hot weather season (April to June) is expected to have the above normal sub-divisional average seasonal temperatures over most of the meteorological sub-divisions of the country except the subdivisions of eastern, east central and southern parts for the country that are likely to experience slightly below normal seasonal temperatures," the IMD said.

Temperatures in the summer season between April and June are expected to be above seasonal averages over most parts of the country, the IMD said.

However, the average temperatures in most of the subdivisions are likely to be cooler than that of last year.

It suggests that warmer than normal temperatures are expected to prevail in most of the subdivisions with maximum anomalies in subdivisions from northwest India and north India. 

However, normal to slightly below normal maximum temperatures are likely to prevail over subdivisions of eastern, east central and southern parts of the country. 

The seasonal average maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by around one degree Celsius in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. They are likely to be between 0.5 degree Celsius and one degree Celsius in Uttarakhand, west Uttar Pradesh and east and west Rajasthan. Remaining subdivisions are likely to experience near normal maximum temperature anomalies, the IMD predicted.

The season averaged minimum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by around one degree Celsius in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and east and west Rajasthan. They are likely to be between 0.5 degree Celsius and one degree Celsius in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, east and west Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra, Saurashtra and Gujarat. Rest of the subdivisions are likely to experience minimum temperature anomalies of less than 0.5 degree Celsius.

The year 2017 was recorded as the hottest year so far by the IMD.