A fresh spell of rain plateaued the upward trend of the mercury in the northern states even as the searing heat led to the death of a person in Odisha.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar which had been staggering under the blazing sun got some much-needed relief as rains hit the region.
The weatherman has predicted heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, and thunderstorm with gusty winds in Jharkhand and Bihar.
Overcast skies and light rainfall in the national capital guarded it against the unremitting heat. The city recorded a high of 34.5 degrees Celsius and a low of 28.8 degrees Celsius.
The number of casualties due to sunstroke in Odisha rose to 17 as one more heat-related death was reported from Dhenkanal district though the temperature descended following more rains.
This summer, four persons each have died due to heat stroke in Sambalpur and Angul, three each in Bargarh and Sundargarh and one each in Balangir, Bhadrak and Dhenkanal.
The mercury remained below the 40-degree Celsius mark across the state. As per the IMD forecast, monsoon is likely to hit the state around the end of the week.
Light showers in Haryana and Punjab brought the maximum temperature down.
Chandigarh gauged 4.8 mm of rainfall and recorded the maximum temperature at 33 degrees Celsius, Ambala registered a high of 32.7 degrees Celsius and Hisar's maximum settled at 31.5 degrees Celsius.
Amritsar got rain overnight and recorded a high of 35.1 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana and Patiala recorded their maximum temperatures at 32.7 and 33.1 degrees Celsius respectively.
A wet Thursday brought respite to the people in Uttar Pradesh with the mercury dropping in most parts of the state.
The maximum temperature fell in Kanpur, Moradabad and was markedly below normal in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad, Kanpur, Bareilly, Lucknow Moradabad, Agra and Meerut.
Banda was the hottest place in the state at 42.2 degrees Celsius and Najibabad the coolest at 20.5 degrees Celsius.
Aligarh received 13.8 mms of precipitation and Meerut 5.5 mm.
However, rains fed the humid weather in Bihar even as the MeT office predicted more precipitation or thunderstorm in the state tomorrow.
A MeT department report from Mumbai said the southwest south-west monsoon is expected to reach the city by the end of the week. The city and surrounding areas received spells of pre-monsoon showers last evening.
The IMD had on Tuesday upgraded its monsoon forecast for the country to 98 per cent of 'Long Period Average' from 96 per cent earlier.
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