Mercury rises in north India, southwest monsoon reaches West Bengal

Temperatures soared in most parts of north India on Friday, with the mercury hovering near the 40 degrees Celsius-mark, while the southwest monsoon advanced further and reached West Bengal. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds are very likely at isolated places over Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan on Saturday.

In the national capital, the mercury crossed the 42 degrees Celsius-mark on Friday, days after the city was lashed by rain and thundershowers. The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a maximum temperature of 41.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal.

The weather stations at Palam and Pusa recorded their maximum temperatures at 42 degrees Celsius and 42.7 degrees Celsius, respectively. There is a possibility of a partly cloudy sky on Saturday. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle at 41 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius, respectively, the weather department said.

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Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the regional forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department, has said the region is not likely to witness a heatwave till June 15.

Large parts of Delhi's neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, too, reeled under scorching heat.

Agra was the hottest place in the state with a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius, followed by 40.9 degrees Celsius in Jhansi, 40.8 degrees Celsius in Aligarh, 40.2 degrees Celsius in Hamirpur, and 40 degrees Celsius in Bareilly, the meteorological (MeT) department said.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur in parts of the state over the next 24 hours, it said.

The maximum temperatures in Haryana and Punjab settled above the normal limits at most places.

Hisar, with a maximum temperature of 42.8 degrees Celsius ? two notches above normal, was the hottest place in the two states, the MeT department said.

In Haryana, Narnaul recorded a maximum temperature of 41 degrees Celsius, Ambala 40.1 degrees Celsius and Karnal 39 degrees Celsius.

The temperatures in both Ambala and Karnal were a notch above normal.

In Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded above normal maximum temperatures at 41.3 degrees Celsius and 41 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Amritsar's maximum settled at 40.2 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a high of 39.6 degrees Celsius, according to the weather department.

In Rajasthan, the mercury continued its upward trend.

Sri Ganganagar recorded the highest maximum temperature in the state at 45 degrees Celsius, the MeT department said.

Bikaner recorded a high of 44.7 degrees Celsius, followed by 43.7 degrees Celsius in Jaisalmer and 43 degrees Celsius each in Barmer and Jodhpur, it said.

The day temperatures in Churu, Jaipur and Ajmer were 42 degrees Celsius, 41.5 degrees Celsius and 40.9 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Light to moderate rainfall occurred at a few places in the state, the MeT department said.

Kekri (Ajmer), Nimbahera and Badi Sadri (both in Chittorgarh), Choti Sadri and Dariabad (both in Pratapgarh) received 3 cm rainfall each; Nainwa (Bundi) and Sarward (Ajmer) 2 cm each and few other places recorded rainfall below 2 cm between Thursday and Friday morning.

Sri Ganganagar recorded 14.2 mm rainfall and Jodhpur 9.4 mm from Friday morning to evening.

The weather department has predicted light rains at isolated places in Bharatpur, Banswara, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Sirohi, Barmer, Hanumangarh, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Pali and Jalore districts during the next 24 hours.

It has also predicted a heatwave in Bikaner, Nagaur, Churu and Sri Ganganagar during the period.

The southwest monsoon arrived in West Bengal, hitting most parts of the state and bringing moderate rainfall, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
The arrival of monsoon was facilitated by a low-pressure belt formed over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, it said.

Kolkata has received 38.4 mm rainfall since 8.30 AM, while most districts of south and north Bengal have received light to moderate rainfall, a MeT office spokesperson said.

The districts which received light to moderate rainfall in south Bengal are East Burdwan, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Nadia, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas districts, and Kolkata.

In north Bengal, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and some parts of South Dinajpur received light to moderate rainfall.

According to MeT centre, similar weather conditions will prevail for the next 24 hours.

The IMD, in its All India Weather Summary and Forecast Bulletin, said, "Conditions are becoming favourable for further advancement of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of Central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Maharashtra (including Mumbai), Odisha and West Bengal, some more parts of Chhattisgarh and some parts of south Gujarat state, south Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar during the next 48 hours."