North sizzles under unrelenting heat

There was no relief from the searing heat in the plains of north India today with the mercury hovering above 40 degrees and the conditions likely to persist over the next couple of days.
The maximum in Delhi was 42.8 degrees Celsius, a shade lower than 43 degrees recorded yesterday, while the minimum dipped 1.2 degrees from 29 degrees to settle at 27.8 degrees.
Humidity in the air was between 17 and 53 per cent in the national capital with the MeT department saying that the conditions would remain unchanged tomorrow.
Temperatures were set beyond the 40 degree mark across Rajasthan where the mercury touched 45.5 degrees in Churu, the hottest place in the state followed by Sriganganagar at 44.5 degrees.

Some of the other high temperatures in the region were reported at Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, which saw the mercury touching 46 degrees, while Narnaul in Haryana sweat it out at 44.2 degrees.
Bikaner (44 degrees) and Pilani (43.5) in Rajasthan, too, had to deal with excruciatingly high temperatures while Kota, Barmer, Chittorgarh and Jaisalmer also reported maximums above 40 degrees.

The weather was mainly dry over Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours with day temperatures rising in the Varanasi and Gorakhpur divisions, the MeT office said.
The mercury stayed above normal in the states of Punjab and Haryana as the two neighbouring states struggled to cope in the hot weather.

Union territory and common capital of Chandigarh recorded a maximum of 41.7 degrees, three notches above normal, according to the MeT office.
Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab recorded maximums of 42.3 and 43.3 degrees, respectively, while Amritsar sizzled at 43 degrees.
The MeT office has said there was no scope for any relief in the region from heat wave conditions in the coming two days.