By IANS,
New Delhi : The rising mercury continued to frazzle the people in the national capital as well as north-central region Thursday while the northeast and sub-Himalayan regions were soaked in rains under the influence of the cyclonic storm “Nargis”, weather office said.
For the people in the national capital region and north-central region, it was another day of sizzling heat. The maximum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 42.6 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 28 degrees Celsius. Both figures were four degrees Celsius higher than what is normal for this time of the season.
The worst hit state Friday was West Bengal, where sheer heat scorched many districts of the state, pushing the mercury well above 40 degrees Celsius. According to local Met Department, the maximum temperature recorded for the day at Purulia was 47.1 degrees Celsius – the highest so far this summer in the country.
The maximum temperature was also hovering around 42-43 degrees Celsius in most parts of the northern region. In Agra, the heat took a toll on the foreign tourists visiting the Taj Mahal and other historical monuments. Several foreign tourists were reported to have fallen sick or fainted because of heat.
The weatherman has forecast dry and hot weather conditions will continue for the next few days across the northern and central India.
Intense heat wave conditions prevailed Thursday in Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and in isolated pockets of east Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. However, most of the northeastern states like Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh as well as the sub-Himalayan West Bengal received welcome rains under the influence of cyclonic storm “Nargis”.
The Met Department has forecast widespread thundershowers over these areas for the next two to three days as the cyclone has moved eastward and intensified over east-central Bay of Bengal.
Isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Andaman Islands also during the next 48 hours, while heavy winds were likely over the islands and adjourning sea areas during the next 24 hours, the Met Office said.
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 (C) Minimum Temperature (C) Rainfall (mm)
New Delhi 42.6 (+4) 28 (+4) Nil
Mumbai 34 (+1) 25.3 (0) Nil
Chennai 40.6 (+6) 28.4 (+1) Nil
Kolkata 37.7 (+2) 28.2 (+2) Nil
Ahmedabad 40.6 (+1) 25.2 (0) Nil
Bangalore 33.4 (0) 21.8 (0) Nil
Bhopal 41.4 (+1) 25.4 (+1) Nil
Bhubaneshwar 37.8 (0) 27.1 (+1) Nil
Chandigarh 41.8 (0) 21.6 (0) Nil
Dehradun 38.0 (+3) 20.5 (+2) Nil
Goa 33.5 (0) 27.2 (+1) Nil
Guwahati 32.2 (+1) 21.0 (0) 2.0
Hyderabad 41.9 (+3) 25.6 (0) Nil
Jaipur 42.2 (+3) 22.4 (-2) Nil
Lucknow 42.6 (+3) 24.0 (+1) Nil
Nagpur 45.1 (+3) 31.1 (+4) Nil
Patna 39.0 (0) 25.5 (+1) Nil
Pune 38.1 (0) 24.6 (+3) Nil
Srinagar 26.7 (0) 9.7 (0) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 33.5 (+1) 25.6 (+1) Nil