Mild relief in Maharashtra heat wave, no casualties

Slight relief was experienced in the heat wave conditions in certain parts of Maharashtra's Vidarbha and Marathwada regions though high temperatures continued to scorch most areas on Friday.

For the first time in a week, the highest temperatures in the state stood at 46 degrees Celsius (down from the high of 47 degrees this entire week), recorded today in Nagpur, Wardha and Chandrapur, though there are no officially recorded heatwave casualties in the state so far.

Akola recorded 45 degrees while Parbhani recorded 44 degrees - a degree lesser than Thursday - while while Yavatmal also stood at 44 degrees today, continuing the same as the previous day.

Amravati, Nanded and Jalgaon notched 43 degrees followed by Aurangabad at 42 degrees and Buldhana, Osmanabad and Solapur at 41 degrees each.

The weather conditions continued to be dry in most districts in the hinterland, with humidity levels as low as 31 percent (Nagpur), 36 percent (Yavatmal), 43 percent (Wardha) and 47 percent (Parbhani and Amravati).

For the first time this week, the salubrious hillstation of Mahabaleshwar recorded 30 degrees, a slight increase after it recorded a continuous high of 29 degrees for the past four days, though it remained the lowest temperature recorded in the state on Friday.

The temperatures in coastal areas like Mumbai rose slightly to 35 degrees (from 34.5 degrees on Thursday), while other seaside districts like Raigad and Ratnagiri stood at 34 degrees, down from Thursday's 35 degrees, but with high humidity levels.