Hot weather conditions continued to prevail across the country with mercury hovering above 40 degrees Celsius temperature in most places, including the national capital.
It was a hot and dry day in Delhi as the maximum temperature was registered at 40.2 degrees Celsius and the minimum settled at 28.5 degrees Celsius, three and seven notches above normal respectively, the Met department said.
The humidity in air oscillated between 21 and 48 per cent.
Hot weather conditions prevailed across Telangana as temperatures remained appreciably above normal at many places.
The highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was recorded at Adilabad, Nalgonda and Nizamabad, the state government said, forecasting a thunderstorm accompanied by squall or hail in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Medak, Mahaboobnagar, Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Warangal and Nalgonda districts.
The state also launched a portal which would provide information on heatwave predictions using data taken from sensors installed at 885 points across the state.
"Accordingly people will be warned though SMSs," Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali said.
Medical and Health Department has advised all hospitals to keep sufficient stocks of ORS and IV fluids to take care of the public in the event of sun strokes.
Replying to query, Ali said as many as 19 deaths due to heatwave were "officially" reported so far.
Several parts of Odisha continued to experience intense heat wave conditions with Sonepur recording the highest temperature at 46 degrees Celsius.
It was followed by 45 degrees Celsius in Sundargarh and 44 degrees Celsius in Titlagarh, while the state capital Bhubaneswar recorded 40.3 degrees Celsius.
The Met department said at least 16 towns in the state recorded over-40 degrees Celsius.
While 45 cases of deaths allegedly due to sunstroke were reported, the government said it had examined 12 cases and found that none of them were related to heat-related incidents.
Isolated parts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed rains and
thundershowers. Day temperatures rose in Faizabad, Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur divisions, while it fell in Allahabad division and changed a little in the rest.
Jhansi, recording a maximum of 41.5 degrees Celsius, was the hottest in the state. The MeT department has predicted rains or thundershowers at isolated places in the state tomorrow.
Scattered rains dragged the temperatures in Punjab and Haryana below normal level.
In Haryana, Hisar and Narnaul registered their maximums at 40.5 and 40 degrees, while in Punjab's Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala, mercury settled at 37.2, 37.7 and 36.2 degrees mark.
Rajasthan received pre-monsoon showers but did not have much relief from prevailing heat wave. Jaipur, Bharatpur and Kota gauged light rains. Alwar recorded 7 mm, Ramgarh and Sangod 2 mm of rains. Churu and Sri ganganagar simmered at 45.3 and 44.6 degrees.
The monsoon is likely to hit the state between June 22 and June 26 if weather conditions remained favourable.
