Heatwave to scorch north India till June 15, Delhi sears at 43.7°C
A major respite from the scorching heat is likely later this week - June 15-16 - with the weather office predicting moderate rain with thunderstorms over northern parts of the country, including the national capital.
An intense heatwave continued to sweep through parts of north India even though the heatwave conditions have abated in the rest of the country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin. The weather department said heatwave conditions prevailed in parts of Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Northwest India has been reeling under a heatwave spell since June 2 due to an onslaught of hot and dry westerly winds.
The national capital has seen six heatwave spells this summer, the deadliest being in mid-May when the maximum temperature soared to 49 degrees Celsius at some places.
On Monday, the Safdarjung Observatory - Delhi's base station - recorded a maximum temperature of 43.7 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal. The minimum temperature settled at 31.6 degrees Celsius.
A major respite from the scorching heat is likely later this week - June 15-16 - with the weather office predicting moderate rain with thunderstorms over northern parts of the country, including the national capital. Thundershowers, cloudy sky, gusty winds and light rainfall are expected to bring some relief.
The IMD also predicted widespread rainfall over the western Himalayan region and scattered to fairly widespread rainfall over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and eastern Uttar Pradesh on June 16 and June 17. "Isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, north Punjab and north Haryana on June 16," the IMD said.
On the monsoon front, the IMD said conditions would continue to be favourable for the further advance of the monsoon into some more parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar in the next two days.
The ‘current spell’ of intense rainfall in the northeast and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim is likely to continue for five more days, IMD said.
