Metros feel the heat as summer approaches

Mercury remained above 30 degrees Celsius mark in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad today and hovered around temperatures normal for this time of the season in Delhi and Chennai.
Cold conditions, however, persisted in parts of north India, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The national capital witnessed a clear sky with moderate winds and a maximum temperature settling two notches above normal at 27.6 degrees Celsius, while the minimum being at 12.4 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average.
In Punjab and Haryana the minimum temperatures hovered around season's average and their joint capital Chandigarh registered a low of 11.6 degrees Celsius.

Amritsar in Punjab recorded a low of 7.8 degrees Celsius, while Ludhiana and Patiala registered minimums of 9.4 and 10.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.
In Haryana, Ambala had a low temperature of 11.5 degrees Celsius, while Hisar and Karnal recorded minimum at 9.4 and 9.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Himachal Pradesh witnessed a marginal rise in mercury in most of its parts even as cold wave conditions persisted in tribal areas and higher hills where mercury stayed below the normal.
The temperature stayed below 10 to 15 degrees below the freezing point in high altitude tribal areas and high mountains, the weather department said.

State capital Shimla recorded a minimum of 7.3 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 16.8 degrees Celsius.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu recorded a high of 25.6 degrees Celsius and a low of 8.9 degrees Celsius while Srinagar registered a maximum of 16.5 degrees Celsius even as its minimum stood at minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.
In frontier region of Ladakh, Leh recorded a high of 4.7 degrees Celsius and a low of minus 7.1 degrees Celsius.
Among the metropolises, Mumbai recorded a maximum temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius, six notches up from normal, and a minimum of 17.4 degrees Celsius, down two points from season's average.

Chennai recorded a maximum temperature of 29.6 degrees Celsius, one notches down from normal, and a minimum of 23.1 degrees Celsius, normal for the season, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) website.
Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 31.9 degrees Celsius, one notches up from normal, and a minimum of 17.6 degrees Celsius, one point down for the season's average.
Bengaluru recorded a maximum temperature of 33.3 degrees Celsius, one notch up from normal, and a minimum of 20 degrees Celsius, two points up from the season's average.
Hyderabad recorded a maximum temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 16 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperature, according to IMD, in some of the cities remained as follows: Patna (29.4), Ahmedabad (36) Bhopal (31.8) Nagpur (36.1), Bhubaneswar (35.1), Jaipur (29), Lucknow (29.1), Meerut (26.6) and Dehradun (27.3).
The minimum temperature in these cities were recorded at: Patna (12.1), Ahmedabad (15.6) Bhopal (13.6) Nagpur (13.1), Bhubaneswar (19.3), Jaipur (13.6), Lucknow (12.4), Meerut (12.4) and Dehradun (8.6).