Mercury soars in north India, but there's hope

Sat, May 17 08:35 PM

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) Residents in the capital got no respite from the sizzling sun till Saturday evening as the mercury remained one degree above normal. It was far more pleasant in the northeast and in southern India, where there were traces of rain.

Saturday's maximum temperature in Delhi was 41.8 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 27.6 degrees. However, an evening drizzle held out hope for a somewhat cooler night. During the day, people were seen thronging the roadside juice and cold drink stalls at many places to beat the heat. There was less traffic on the roads than usual as people tried their best to stay indoors. The warm weather in north India will be temporary, as thundershowers accompanied by squalls are likely at many places in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and western Uttar Pradesh from Monday, the weatherman said. The day's highest maximum temperature was recorded at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh at 45.6 degrees Celsius. The weatherman has forecast rain in the northeast, east and south India. Thundershowers are likely in Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Sikkim, the eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh and in West Bengal. Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will also receive isolated thundershowers Monday and Tuesday. In south India, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep islands will receive rains and thundershowers Monday and Tuesday. Chhattisgarh will receive thundershowers, although other areas in central India will remain mostly dry. In Rajasthan, the weather will remain dry. Dust storms were forecast at some places in the state Monday. The following were the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall figure in major cities for the 24 hours till Saturday evening, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average. City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall (C) (C) (mm) New Delhi 41.8 (+1) 27.6 (+1) TRACE Mumbai 33.5 (0) 28.0 (+2) Nil Chennai 42.1 (+6) 28.9 (+1) Nil Kolkata 37.2 (+1) 28.2 (+1) TRACE Ahmedabad 41.3 (0) 26.8 (0) Nil Bangalore 35.5 (+2) 21.8 (+1) Nil Bhopal 40.0 (+1) 28.0 (+2) Nil Bhubaneswar 37.5 (-1) 28.3 (+1) Nil Chandigarh 40.2 (+2) 24.0 (+1) TRACE Dehradun 35.7 (0) 19.3 (-1) 4.2 Goa 35.1 (+2) 26.1 (-1) Nil Guwahati 36.0 (+5) 23.9 (+1) TRACE Hyderabad 41.1 (+2) 26.6 (+1) Nil Jaipur 40.7 (+1) 29.1 (+4) Nil Lucknow 41.2 (+1) 24.0 (0) TRACE Nagpur 44.0 (+1) 30.4 (+2) Nil Patna 37.9 (-1) 25.5 (0) TRACE Pune 36.2 (-1) 23.3 (+1) Nil Srinagar 21.2 (-3) 11.0 (0) Nil Thiruvananthapuram 33.5 (+1) 25.5 (0) Nil

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