Maharashtra sizzles at 40 plus degrees, rains in some areas

Several parts of Maharashtra sizzled at 40 plus degrees Celsius on Tuesday with Chandrapur in Vidarbha recording a whopping 44 degrees even as unseasonal rains lashed some of the state's western parts.

Chandrapur's maximum was 2 degrees above average for this time of the year, but even the minimum temperatures at 29 degrees was 3 degrees higher than average, forcing people to remain indoors for most part of the day.

Nagpur, Akola, Ahmednagar and Jalgaon were next on the high temperatures list at 42 degrees each, with higher than average lower temperatures too.

Wardha, Yavatmal, Amravati, Parbhani and Nashik's Malegaon town stood at 41 degrees each, followed by Buldhana, Aurangabad, Nanded and Pune at 40 degrees each, with lower temperatures even higher than average in all these districts.

In contrast to the blistering heat, several parts of Pune, Satara, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Raigad and surrounding areas experienced sudden thundershowers with strong winds which provided relief to local population.

The usually cool and salubrious hillstation of Mahabaleshwar in Satara notched temperatures equal to Mumbai -- 34 degrees, but the popular holiday destination experienced huge relief after it was lashed by thundershowers this afternoon.

The other high-temperature districts included Satara at 39 degrees, Sangli at 38 degrees, Kolhapur and Osmanabad at 37 degrees each, with corresponding higher readings in the lower temperatures.

The temperatures in the coastal areas of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg were relatively lower, averaging between 32 and 34 degrees, but people experienced misery on account of high humidity levels of upto 90 per cent in some areas.

The IMD Mumbai has forecast similar hot weather conditions for Mumbai and surrounding areas over the next few days.

However, it has forecast rains or thundershowers at isolated locations in south-central Maharashtra and surroundings till Friday morning, after which the weather would remain dry.

--IANS

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