The heat wave continued in the hills of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, with temperatures three to seven degrees above the season's average. In some areas, the mercury crossed 45 degrees Celsius.
"Most of the towns were unusually hot, mainly due to lack of rains," an official of the meteorological office here told IANS.
"Heat wave conditions were prevailing in Una, Sirmaur, Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts and parts of Mandi district and would continue," he added.
Una town was the hottest in the state with the highest temperature recorded at 45 degrees Celsius.
Shimla was hot too. The town located at a height of 7,000 feet above sea level saw a high of 31.2 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was seven notches above what is the average for this time of the season.
Sundernagar in Mandi district recorded a high of 40.5 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature in Manali was 26.4 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala was at 35.2 degrees Celsius and Kalpa in Kinnaur district was 25.4 degrees Celsius.