By IANS
New Delhi : Millions in Delhi welcomed the end of an unusually long, harsh winter this year and shed their woollens as the mercury continued its upward climb Thursday.
The maximum temperature in the national capital was nearly 28 degrees Celsius and the Met Office forecast further rise in temperature for the next two days.
Even though the minimum temperature stayed at around nine degrees Celsius, a clear sky made up for a warm day.
The trend was same in most parts of the northern plains, the mercury inching towards the 30-degree mark. The weather office has forecast that the maximum temperature would further rise in the next couple of days till Saturday.
The lowest temperature in the plains was 7 degrees Celsius at Narnaul in Haryana.
As the north came out of the cold spell, the eastern parts of the country witnessed rain.
A thunder squall followed by a hailstorm killed at least one person, injured several others, uprooted trees and damaged property worth millions in Orissa.
The thunder squall hit Bhubaneswar and parts of coastal Kendrapada district for about 10 minutes Wednesday afternoon.
A worker at a private factory died at the state capital Bhubaneswar after a tree fell on him.
The storm damaged at least 715 houses, seven school and government buildings and uprooted hundreds of trees, an official of the state revenue control room told IANS.
The hailstorm also affected 300 people in three villages of Kendrapada district and damaged at least 40 houses besides causing injury to 20 people, he said. The affected villages are Gariapani, Banipal and Kharupal. At least 15 country boats from this district are also reported missing in the sea, he added.
“We are trying to find out the exact number of people in the boats,” he said.
The weather office has forecast rain and thundershowers at many places of north coastal Orissa in the next 24 hours till Friday.
Rain or thundershowers are also forecast for coastal Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
The following are the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the 24 hours till Thursday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall
(C) (C) (mm)
Delhi 27.6 (+3) 9.2 (-2) Nil
Mumbai 29.5 (-3) 17.5 (0) Nil
Chennai 31.5 (+1) 22.3 (-1) Nil
Kolkata 26.2 (-4) 15.4 (-2) 8.9
Ahmedabad 33.0 (+2) 12.0 (-3) Nil
Bangalore 30.8 (+1) 18.2 (+1) Nil
Bhopal 28.8 (0) 13.6 (+1) Nil
Bhubaneswar 32.1 (0) 17.4 (-2) 24.0
Chandigarh 25.2 (+1) 10.0 (0) Nil
Dehradun 23.7 (+2) 10.6 (+2) Nil
Panaji 33.3 (+2) 19.0 (-2) Nil
Guwahati 24.8 (-2) 9.8 (-2) Nil
Hyderabad 33.0 (+1) 20.0 (+3) Nil
Jaipur 29.2 (+2) 13.6 (+2) Nil
Lucknow 25.4 (-1) 8.8 (-2) Nil
Nagpur 32.2 (-1) 12.0 (-4) Nil
Patna 21.5 (-6) 10.9 (-2) Nil
Pune 33.9 (+1) 14.8 (+3) Nil
Srinagar 14.2 (+5) 3.1 (+3) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 32.6 (+1) 22.9 (0) Nil