North, Central India to swelter for three more days

Temperatures will be more than five degrees above normal

The sweltering heat that grips national capital and vast stretches of north and central India including the hills will continue unabated for the next three days, giving little reprieve to people, weathermen have predicted.

The heatwave condition will occur in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and the Vidarbha region in central India for the next 72 hours. The temperature will be more than 5 degrees above normal.

The meteorological scientists, however, did not find anything unusual in the sudden spike of temperature over the last week.

“Heat waves are common in the second half of May and first half of June over Northwest India.Trend for the last three-four days was indicating build up of heat wave. it is likely to continue for next two days with some dip on May 23. Over all hot weather will continue for quite some time,” Ajit Tyagi, former director general of Indian Meteorological Department told Deccan Herald.

Delhi on Monday sizzled with temperature touching 46.1 degrees Celsius mark in Palam weather station near the airport. The Safderjung weather station in central Delhi recorded marginally less temperature at 44.6 degrees Celsius.

Over the next 48 hours, the maximum temperature in Delhi will stay at 45 degrees or above while the minimum temperature too will rise by two degrees in the same period. At 47.6 degrees Celsius, Churu recorded the highest temperature in the north.

Punjab and Haryana reeled under the effects of the sweltering heat on Monday. While Hisar was the hottest in Haryana at 46 degrees Celsius, Patiala and Amritsar, each recording a maximum temperature of 45.4 degrees Celsius, were the hottest in Punjab.

Madhya Pradesh was sizzling, the hottest being Khajuraho and Nowgaon, each recording a maximum temperature of 46.7 degrees C on Sunday. In Bhopal, the mercury had risen to 44.8 degrees Celsius — the second highest temperature recorded here in a decade. Temperatures crossed 46 degrees Celsius in western Odisha towns.

The hills were no better. While the mercury soared north to touch 32 degrees in Dharamsala, popular tourist destinations like Shimla, Manali and Srinagar witnessed a maximum temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature remains appreciably above normal in most of the places.

“A marginal temperature drop by one or two degrees may happen around the week-end as a western disturbance may be created around May 24. The western disturbance may bring some cloud and thunderstorms in the hills, which in turn may cool the plains by a bit. But there is nothing unusual with the heatwave,” B P Yadav, head of national weather forecasting centre at the IMD told this newspaper.

Vidarbha sizzles

The summer sun hit Nagpur city hard with the mercury recording a temperature of 47 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest region in country on Sunday, DHNS reports from Mumbai quoting weather bureau officials.

While some parts of the country have received sporadic pre-monsoon showers in the eastern islands of country, Vidarbha region blistered with temperatures  refusing to come down.