By IANS
New Delhi : After a brief spell of pleasant weather, people in Delhi and the northern plains perspired Friday as the mercury touched the 30 degrees Celsius mark for the first time since the winter receded.
After a long and particularly harsh winter, millions in the country are now bracing themselves for the equally harsh, and longer, summer as temperatures in most parts of north India hovered around 30 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature in the capital was nearly five degrees C above normal.
But the sting in the winter didn’t go away completely. The minimum temperature in Delhi remained around 10 degrees Celsius. The huge difference between the night and day temperatures brought much discomfort to the people.
The Met Office has forecast the current trend will continue for the next three to four days till Tuesday.
The heat of the plains was also felt in the Kashmir Valley, as Srinagar, reeling under the severe winter till last week, witnessed a day’s high of nearly 16 degrees Celsius – a jump of six degrees above the normal.
The weather office has forecast light snow in parts of Jammu and Kashmir and upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh for Saturday.
Even though the temperatures soared in West Bengal and northeastern states, the weatherman has forecast rain for the region in the next couple of days till Sunday.
The following were the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the 24 hours till Friday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall
(C) (C) (mm)
Delhi 30.5 (+5) 10.7 (-1) Nil
Mumbai 37.4 (+5) 15.8 (-2) Nil
Chennai 31.1 (+1) 22.3 (+1) Nil
Kolkata 30.2 (-2) 16.2 (-2) Nil
Ahmedabad 33.7 (+1) 12.3 (-4) Nil
Bangalore 31.4 (+1) 17.0 (0) Nil
Bhopal 31.4 (+4) 13.4 (-1) Nil
Bhubaneswar 31.0 (-2) 20.1 (+1) Nil
Chandigarh 28.6 (+4) 11.2 (0) Nil
Dehradun 26.2 (+3) 12.8 (+3) Nil
Panaji 35.1 (+3) 20.0 (+1) Nil
Guwahati 29.5 (+1) 11.7 (+1) Nil
Hyderabad 32.2 (-1) 17.6 (0) Nil
Jaipur 32.5 (+6) 13.2 (+1) Nil
Lucknow 28.4 (0) 11.4 (0) Nil
Nagpur 34.2 (0) 14.2 (-3) Nil
Patna 27.5 (-1) 11.6 (-2) Nil
Pune 34.0 (+1) 12.2 (-1) Nil
Srinagar 16.6 (+7) 0.7 (0) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 34.4 (+2) 24.0 (0) 0.1