Suresh Talera remembers the time he would drive from his home in Koregaon Park (KP) to Deccan and feel the air turning warmer as he approached the main city. Now, he can’t tell the difference. The mercury has been rising steadily in KP over time.

“Earlier, we needed air-conditioning only in summer. Now, it is for seven months a year,” says Talera of Hotel Sunderban, a charming address nestled in the tranquility of a tree-covered lane adjoining the Osho International Meditation Resort.

In the rest of Pune, unbridled developmental activity, pollution and congestion are contributing to rising temperatures. KP, with its leafy, expansive and quietly old-world bungalows and lanes, should have been different. Yet, on Tuesday morning, when Shivajinagar logged a temperature of 24.9 degrees Celsius and Chinchwad was 25.8 degrees Celsius, KP topped the chart at 27.1 degrees Celsius. KP has been consistently recording among the highest minimum temperatures in the city. The daytime temperature of 38 degrees Celsius on Tuesday was among the warmest in the city.

“I don’t know why it is so hot in KP. Honestly, I’m confused,” says Talera. An expert from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) says that microclimates are evident in an expanding city like Pune. He points to the urban heat island effect in which concrete spaces absorb and retain heat during the day and become “high-temperature hotspots”. During the night, the heat cannot escape due to the concrete construction, among others, and helps increase the minimum temperature.

The definition of KP has expanded to include the surrounding areas that are witnessing a real estate boom in ultra-luxury commercial and residential properties. KP’s bustling social scene, elite atmosphere and proximity to the airport, railway station and other hubs have attracted some of the country’s biggest realtors and made it a prized stretch on the city’s map. This reflects in the changing temperature as well.

Instruments to measure the temperatures and other climatic conditions in KP were installed four or five years ago. “The three weather stations of Lohegaon, Magarpatta and KP are in more urbanised settings. In comparison, the Central Agrometeorological Observatory (CAgMo) of Shivajinagar is located amid agricultural fields on the campus of the College of Agriculture in Shivajinagar, Pune. The station in Pashan also has a lot of greenery while NDA, being a defence area, has no big constructions. Consequently, we see that Lohegaon, Magarpatta and KP have higher temperatures compared to Shivajinagar, Pashan and NDA,” says SD Sanap. Scientist at IMD Pune.