Top hottest cities in India amid heatwave warning till next week

An orange alert is issued when a heatwave is likely to persist for more than four days or a severe heatwave for more than two days.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said severe heatwaves are likely to impact parts of northwest, central and peninsular India in the next four to five days.

A severe heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is at least 40°C and more than 6.4°C higher than the normal; or when the maximum temperature is more than 47°C. (Rahul Raut/HT file photo)

The weather bureau has issued an orange alert for Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh from May 24 to 27 for heatwave; in west and east Rajasthan for heatwave and severe heatwave; and in Vidarbha for heatwave.

An orange alert is issued when a heatwave is likely to persist for more than four days or a severe heatwave for more than two days.

A heatwave is considered when the maximum temperature is at least 40°C and between 4.5°C and 6.4°C higher than the normal or when the maximum temperature is over 45°C for two stations in a sub-division for two consecutive days.

A severe heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is at least 40°C and more than 6.4°C higher than the normal; or when the maximum temperature is more than 47°C.

Here are the hottest cities in the country on Saturday:

Churu 46.6

Ganganagar 46.6

Jhansi 46.1

Agra 46

Khajuraho 46

Akola 46

Nagpur 46

Gwalior 45.9

Palam 45.6

Delhi (Safdarjung) 44.7

Bilaspur 44.6

Raipur 44.4

Medak 44

Bhopal 43.8

Jaipur 43.6

Hyderabad 42.8

Chandigarh 41.4