Relief likely for sun-scorched north India after light rains

Light rains in sun-scorched north India are likely to bring some relief in next three days, while heatwave conditions intensified on Wednesday in most parts of the country, including eastern states with Tripura declaring a ‘state specific disaster’.

The national capital, parts of which reeled under heatwave conditions for the past few days, had some relief on Wednesday with strong winds and partly cloudy skies witnessed during the day.

Delhi, which had recorded above 40 degree-mark in the past few days, recorded a maximum of 38 degrees Celsius.

“The maximum temperature is likely to drop by another two to three degrees over the next two days in the city,” a MeT official said.

Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh and Baripada in Odisha recorded the maximum temperature of 44.5 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department.

According to IMD, heatwave conditions are prevailing in isolated pockets over Gangetic West Bengal since the last eight days; coastal Andhra Pradesh since the last six days; Bihar since the last five days; and Punjab and Haryana since the last two days.

Tripura, reeling under hot weather conditions since last week, on Wednesday decided to identity heatwave, sunstroke and sunburn as ‘state specific disasters’ and requested the people to take necessary steps to guard themselves against the weather. Many places in Uttar Pradesh recorded the maximum temperature in the 40-45 degrees Celsius bracket. The weather is likely to remain dry over eastern Uttar Pradesh while rain is expected at isolated places in the western part of the state, it said. Dust storm conditions were witnessed in several areas in Bikaner and Jodhpur divisions.

Jaisalmer and Bikaner regions were hit by a strong dust storm on Wednesday.

Residents in Ajmer, Jaipur and Bharatpur divisions also experienced dust storms, the MeT said. Meanwhile, Suratgarh in Sriganganagar recorded a maximum of 19 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. The higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh received a fresh spell of snow, while many other parts were lashed by rains, with the weather office warning of heavy rainfall in the state on Wednesday. The sky remained overcast in Shimla and surrounding areas with fog reducing the visibility to a few metres in the morning. An appreciable fall has been witnessed in the minimum temperature across the state and Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest recording a low of minus 0.1 degrees Celsius.

The MeT office in Shimla has warned of heavy rainfall, thunderstorm, lightning and hail storm in plains, low and mid hills on April 19 and thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places on April 20 and 21.

Many parts of Punjab and Haryana also received rains overnight leading to a dip in the temperature. Chandigarh, received light rain (2.2 mm).