Hottest March day in Delhi since 2011, Vidarbha sizzles

The five hottest places in the country fell under Maharashtra's Vidarbha region even as other states including Delhi, which experienced the hottest March day since 2011, also reeled under searing heat today.
Chandrapur in Vidarbha recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius, the highest maximum temperature in the country while Wardha (43.8 degrees), Akola (43.6 degrees), Bramhapur (43.3 degrees) and Nagpur (43.1 degrees) were the next hotest places in India, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
In Delhi, the Safdarjung observatory, whose recording is considered the official for the city, registered a maximum temperature of 38.6 degrees Celsius, five notches above the normal, making it the hottest day of March since 2011.

Another observatory in Palam, showed an even higher 40.2 degrees Celsius, also the highest in the last seven years.
Churu was the hottest place in Rajasthan recording 43 degrees Celsius while Kota followed with 41.3 degrees Celsius. Barmer and Bikaner registered 40.8 degrees Celsius each.
Pilani, Jaisalmer and Jaipur recorded maximum temperatures of 40.6 degrees Celsius, 40.5 degrees Celsius and 39.9 degrees Celsius respectively.

Banda was the hottest place in Uttar Pradesh recording a high of 43.6 degrees. Several other districts like Varanasi, Faizabad, Jhansi and Agra registered above normal temperatures.
People in Punjab and Haryana too felt intense heat as the day temperatures went up by several notches above normal in many parts.

Narnaul continued to be the hottest place in Haryana recording a high of 41.9 degrees Celsius. Hisar sizzled at 40 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab, Patiala recorded a maximum 38 degrees Celsius, Ludhiana saw the mercury rising to 37.1 degrees Celsius, the MeT department said.
In Telangana, Adilabad was the hottest town at 43 degrees
Celsius. The mercury touched or crossed the 40-degrees mark in Nizamabad (42), Medak (41), Bhadrachalam, Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar and Ramagundam (all 40 degrees Celsius).
The maximum temperature would continue to be above normal by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, and could be above 40 degrees at isolated places across the state, IMD officials said.

The trend of above normal temperatures continued in Jammu and Kashmir.
Srinagar recorded a high of 23.7 degrees Celsius which is six degrees above normal for this part of the season, a spokesman of the MeT office said. The city experienced light showers twice in the day.
The night temperature in the city was 12.2 degrees Celsius against yesterday's 8.5 degrees Celsius which is also six degrees above normal.
The maximum temperature in the winter capital Jammu increased by a degree to settle at 34.1 degrees Celsius which is five degrees above normal, officials said.
The minimum temperature in Jammu city was 20.7 degrees Celsius - four degrees above normal.