Pleasant morning in Lucknow, monsoon on schedule

The residents of Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow woke up to a cloudy and pleasant morning Tuesday with the temperature dropping to 24 degrees Celsius - four degrees below normal. The local weather office said the monsoon would arrive in the state on time.

While it drizzled in some parts of the state through the night, the regional meteorological centre has forecast a cloudy day ahead with rains in some areas.

"As of now, the monsoon is advancing normally," J.P. Gupta, director of the regional meteorological centre here, told IANS.

"If no regional disturbance interferes with the onset of monsoon, it will hit Uttar Pradesh anytime next week," Gupta said.

The state capital is likely to receive pre-monsoon showers as the humidity and day temperature levels move up, he added.

The humidity in the state has been hovering between 85-90 percent, while the day temperatures have remained in the 44-45 degrees Celsius range in the last few days.

Monday's maximum temperature in Lucknow was a notch below average at 38.7 degrees Celsius, while the minimum settled at 26.6 degrees Celsius - normal for this time of the year.