Temperatures soar in Himachal

The hills of Himachal Pradesh on Friday continued to experience warm weather with Una town recording a high of 41.4 degrees Celsius, a Met official said here.

"Temperatures increased due to the prevailing dry spell. Heat wave conditions are prevailing in Una, Sirmaur, Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts and parts of Mandi district and will continue to prevail during the next 48 hours," an official of the meteorological office told IANS.

He said chances of rain and thundershowers are likely to occur over mid and low hills on May 11-12 with reaching of western disturbances -- a storm system originating from the Mediterranean-Caspian Sea region and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

The state capital recorded a high of 26.9 degrees Celsius, six degrees above the average for this time of the year.

Nahan in Sirmaur district recorded 34 degrees Celsius, while Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a maximum of 24.4 degrees Celsius and Bhuntar near Kullu saw 35.2 degrees.