By IANS,
New Delhi : The scorching sun is beating down in the northern plains. Many north Indian cities Tuesday witnessed the maximum temperature crossing 40 degrees Celsius, signalling the arrival of gruesome summer. A heat wave is also sweeping some areas in the north and east, leaving several dead.
The Titlagarh town in western Orissa recorded a maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius. Officials have confirmed that at least 10 people have already died in Orissa in the last one week due to sunstroke.
“The cause of the rising temperature is the dry, hot winds coming in from northwestern India,” Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, told IANS.
The national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 41 degrees Celsius, while cities like Nagpur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Pune and Patna also crossed the 40-degree mark. The minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 24 degrees Celsius, two degrees above the normal.
The Met Office forecast that the upward trend would continue in the coming days.
The weatherman also said some parts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu would get isolated rain in the next 48 hours.
The following were the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the 24 hours till Tuesday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall
(C) (C) (mm)
New Delhi 41.0 (+3) 24.0 (+2) Nil
Mumbai 35.0 (+3) 26.4 (+2) Nil
Chennai 36.8 (+3) 26.4 (0) Nil
Kolkata 39.3 (+3) 27.5 (+2) Nil
Ahmedabad 40.0 (0) 25.4 (+1) Nil
Bangalore 36.9 (+3) 23.2 (+1) Nil
Bhopal 40.4 (+1) 22.4 (0) Nil
Bhubaneswar 39.1 (+1) 26.5 (+1) Nil
Chandigarh 39.6 (+5) 23.8 (+4) Nil
Dehradun 36.0 (+3) 19.0 (+1) Nil
Goa 33.1 (0) 27.0 (+1) Nil
Guwahati 34.1 (+2) 22.6 (+2) Nil
Hyderabad 40.9 (+4) 22.4 (-2) Nil
Jaipur 40.2 (+3) 22.0 (0) Nil
Lucknow 40.8 (+2) 23.4 (+1) Nil
Nagpur 44.0 (+4) 28.4 (+3) Nil
Patna 40.2 (+2) 23.0 (-1) Nil
Pune 40.6 (+4) 20.8 (+1) Nil
Srinagar 24.8 (+5) 8.4 (0) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 32.6 (+1) 26.0 (+1) Nil