No Respite From Heat Despite Rain, Snowfall In Parts Of North

Most parts of the country witnessed heatwave conditions today despite snowfall in hilly regions of Jammu and Kashmir and scattered rainfall in some areas of other northern states.

The country's highest temperature (43.2 degrees Celsius) was recorded in Madhya Pradesh's Khajuraho followed by Wardha (Maharashtra) 43, and Daltonganj (Jharkhand) at 42.9.

In the national capital, which witnessed cloudy and sunny patches through the day and light rainfall by the evening, the maximum temperature was recorded at 36.3 degrees Celsius while the minimum was 21.8.

The weather department has forecast likelihood of rain, duststorm and thunderstorm in Delhi and NCR for tomorrow due to an active western disturbance across northwest India.

The IMD in an evening bulletin said heatwave conditions were observed at most places across the country while severe heatwave conditions were observed at a few places over West Rajasthan, at many places over East Rajasthan, at a few places over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and East Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan's Pilani (7 mm) and Churu (.5 mm) also received light rain.

The maximum temperature continued to hover above normal limits across Haryana and Punjab even as several parts of the two states received rains.

In Haryana, Hisar recorded maximum temperature at 35.6 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal. The city also recorded 0.1 mm of rainfall. Narnaul recorded 39 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal.

In Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala braved hot weather at 34.9 degrees and 33.3 degrees Celsius respectively, three notches above normal.

Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded rainfall of 0.8 mm, 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm respectively, as per the MeT report.

Many areas in the higher reaches of Kashmir received fresh snowfall, while the plains in the Valley were lashed by rains.

The state's Meteorological Department has forecast continuous wet spell till the weekend.

Few areas in the upper reaches of the Valley, including Gurez, Razdan Pass, Sadhna Top, Affarwat, and Amarnmath Cave received fresh light snowfall.

Plains of the Valley, including the summer capital, received intermittent rains since the morning.

Meanwhile, the MeT department in Uttarakhand has issued a heavy-rain alert for the hilly districts over the next 48 hours starting late tonight.

Heavy rain is likely to lash isolated places, especially in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts during the next 48 hours starting late tonight.

Hailstorm and squalls are also likely to occur at a few places during the period.

After a brief two-day respite, the mercury again started rising across Odisha where temperature remained above 40 degrees Celsius at nine places with Angul being the hottest at 42.7 degrees Celsius.

The state capital of Bhubaneswar recorded 34.7 degrees Celsius.