A day after Delhi’s Najafgarh baked at over 47°C to trend as the hottest place in the country, the Met department on Friday held out no immediate respite from the searing and scalding heatwave as it issued a fresh heatwave warning for the northern plains till May 21, Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Gujarat is experiencing scorching heat, with the highest temperature of 44.7°C recorded in Surendranagar district. Meanwhile, Ahmedabad, at 44.2 °C, is the second-warmest city in the western state.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a heatwave and a severe heatwave condition across vast swathes of North India, including several parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, between May 17 and 21.
The weather agency said heatwave conditions were likely to prevail in parts of Uttar Pradesh from May 17-21; in isolated pockets of Gujarat between May 17 and 21; Bihar from May 17-20; Jharkhand between May 19 and 20; north Madhya Pradesh from May 18-21; Gangetic West Bengal between May 18 and 20; and Odisha on May 20 and 21.
While a red alert for severe heatwave was issued for west Rajasthan, an Orange alert was also out for Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, East Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.
A yellow alert for a heatwave-like condition was issued as well for Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha.
Himachal’s Una also recorded the season’s highest temperature for the state, at 43.2°C while Agra logged the second-highest maximum temperature ever recorded in the city at 46.9°C.
Chandigarh, too, continued to reel under sweltering hot weather, recording a maximum temperature of 44.5°C. It was the third-highest maximum temperature ever recorded in the city, which doubles up as the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
Rajasthan’s Barmer recorded a maximum temperature of 46.5°C on Friday, while Delhi’s Ayanagar logged 46.2°c. Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh recorded 44.9°C while Gujarat’s Surendranagar and Punjab’s Patiala logged 44.7°C and 44.4°C respectively.
Additionally, the Met department has forecast heavy rain to continue in the coming days. An orange alert has been issued on Saturday in Palakkad and Malappuram districts and a yellow alert in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Idukki, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.
(Input from ANI)
