Monsoon hits north India; temperature dips in many states

Advancing monsoon rain blunted temperatures over many parts of north and south India, even as the retreating summer heat claimed one more life in Odisha.

Rain hit the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar, offering a much-needed relief from the blazing sun.

The weatherman has predicted heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, and thunderstorm with gusty winds in Jharkhand and Bihar.

Overcast skies and light rainfall shielded the national capital against the unremitting heat, as the city registered a maximum temperature of 34.5 degrees Celsius and a low of 28.8 degrees.

Though the advancing rain caused a dip in mercury in Odisha, the state registered its 17th sunstroke victim in Dhenkanal district.

Four persons each fell victim to heat stroke in Sambalpur and Angul districts this summer, while the numbers stood at three in Bargarh and Sundargarh and one each in Balangir, Bhadrak and Dhenkanal.

Mercury remained below the 40-degree mark in Odisha, which would receive the first monsoon showers by the end of the week according to the IMD forecast.

In Haryana and Punjab, light rain caused a dip in temperatures. Chandigarh registered a rainfall of 4.8 mm and maximum temperature of 33 degrees, while Ambala recorded 32.7 degrees.

Temperature in Hisar was 31.5 degrees. Despite overnight rains, Amritsar settled at 35.1 degrees, while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded 32.7 and 33.1 degrees respectively.

A wet Thursday brought the heat down in Uttar Pradesh, with maximum temperatures significantly falling in
Kanpur, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Agra and Meerut.

Banda was the hottest place in the state at 42.2 degrees and Najibabad the coolest at 20.5 degrees. Aligarh received 13.8 mm of rain and Meerut 5.5 mm. However, rain fed the humid weather in Bihar even as the MeT office predicted more precipitation or thunderstorm in the state on Friday.