Mercury slightly down in Odisha, parts of north cool too

There was some respite from gruelling heat in Odisha, which was reeling under high temperature over the past few days, while rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh kept the mercury near-normal in northern plains.
In the national capital, mainly clear skies prevailed and the maximum and the minimum temperatures settled within normal levels. Some parts of the city received scattered light rains till 8.30 AM.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 37.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average, while the minimum settled at 23.1 degrees, two notches below the normal level.
The MeT office has forecast overcast conditions for tomorrow.

Wintry conditions were witnessed in Himachal Pradesh's tribal and hilly areas following fresh snowfall and rain while landslide blocked National Highway in Kinnaur district.
Keylong received 10 cm of snowfall yesterday while the Rohtang Pass 20 cm, hampering road clearing operations on Manali-Keylong-Leh National highway. The Border Roads Organisation has set a target to clear the road by May 25.

The night temperatures dipped to minus 0.1 degree and 0.6 degree in Keylong and Kalpa. Manali and Bhuntar shivered at 3.0 degree and 8.2 degree, three to four notches below normal.
A marginal drop in temperatures in several areas coupled with a nor'wester brought some respite from the gruelling heat in Odisha, where the mercury breached the 40-degree mark in eight places compared to 13 yesterday.

The temperature at Balangir, which remained the hottest town in the state, fell to 42.5 degrees Celsius during the day compared to yesterday's 44.3 degrees Celsius.
Maximum temperatures hovered around normal in several parts of Punjab and Haryana. The common capital Chandigarh recorded a maximum temperature of 36.8 degrees Celsius.
The MeT office has predicted dry weather conditions in the two states for the next 24 hours.
In Bihar, one or two places of south west, south centre, south east and north east parts witnessed light rainfall in the past 24 hours.
Gaya received 1 mm rain while Patna, Bhagalpur and Purnea received traces in past 24 hours. Gaya was the hottest place in the state with 38.5 degree Celsius, followed by Bhagalpur at 36.5 deg C and Purnea at 31.8 deg C.

A Met department forecast said sky would be partly cloudy in Patna and Gaya tomorrow.
In Rajasthan, Barmer was the hottest place with maximum temperature touching 43 degree Celsius mark. Jaisalmer recorded 42 degree Celsius followed by 41.4 in Sriganganagar, 41.3 in Jodhpur.