New Delhi: Light rain and thunderstorm could barely bring respite from blistering heat wave conditions in the northern region as mercury refused to drop below the 40 degree Celsius mark in most places today. Delhiites braved a hot day today as mercury again soared to 40.6 degree Celsius, one degree above normal while the minimum temperature was recorded at 25.5 degree Celsius, a notch below normal.
Yesterday, after a brief rain spell temperature had dropped from 43 degree Celsius in the day to 39.8 degree Celsius by the evening and the minimum settled at 25.2 deg C. The Meteorological department has predicted that rain would occur at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.
Light to moderate rain and thundershowers occurred at isolated places over west Uttar Pradesh even as temperature in the state capital Lucknow settled at 41.3 deg C. The heritage city of Agra recorded 42.7 degree C, while in Varanasi mercury settled at 41.6 degree C. The highest temperatures were recorded in Jhansi at 43.4 deg C and in Allahabad at 43.2 deg C.
In Rajasthan, mercury dipped in Jaipur and Bikaner divisions which witnessed light rainfall and thunderstorm in the past 24 hours as temperature settled around 37.4 deg C. Jalore was the hottest place in the state registering a high of 44 degree Celsius, wile Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota and Churu recorded maximum temperatures of 43.6, 43.3, 42.5, 42.4 and 42 degree Celsius, respectively.
Sweltering heat prevailed across Punjab and Haryana where Bhiwani continued to be the hottest place and its maximum temperature was recorded at 44 deg C. Among other places in Punjab, Ludhiana sizzled at 40.3 deg C, Amritsar and Patiala settled at 38.8 deg C and 39.3 deg C.
In neighbouring Haryana, Ambala and Hisar recorded maximum at 38.3 deg C and 41 deg C respectively. However, Narnaul saw mercury dipping by six notches below normal to 35 deg C while Karnal had a high of 38 deg C, down by a degree below normal.
