Heatwave continues in northwest, central India

Parts of northwest and central India reeled under a searing heatwave on Wednesday with Ganganagar in Rajasthan and Brahmapuri in Maharashtra recording a highest maximum temperature of 46.2 degrees Celsius.

The India Meteorological Department said the heatwave spell will continue in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh till Thursday and in Odisha till Friday.   At least 42 towns and cities across Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh reported maximum temperatures above 44 degrees Celsius.

In Delhi, Safdarjung, the base station for the national capital, reported a maximum temperature of 44 degrees celsius, which was four notches above normal.

The weather office said the maximum temperatures may dip by two to three degrees Celsius in Gujarat and Maharashtra during the next five days.  However, no significant change is predicted in the rest of the country, it said.   On the monsoon front, due to westerly winds from Arabian Sea over south peninsular India, fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorm/lightning is very likely over Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep over the next five days, it said.

The weather office has forecast isolated heavy rainfall very likely over south interior Karnataka on Wednesday, coastal Karnataka and Kerala till Saturday.

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