Rain and thunderstorms brought temperatures around normal levels in many parts of the country even as at least 11 places in Rajasthan and eight in Odisha recorded a maximum of above 40 degrees Celsius.
India Meteorological Department said thunderstormswas observed at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Bihar, Odisha, WestBengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh and no heat wave observed over the country.
In national capital New Delhi it was a partly cloudy sky and the maximum temperature recorded at Safdarjung MeT station was 39.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal for the season.
The minimum settled at 25.3 degrees Celsius.
In Rajasthan, 11 places recorded a maximum temperature above 40 degrees Celsius and Phalodi town in Jodhpur district was the hottest at 46.5.
It was followed by Sri Ganganagar at 45, Bikaner 44.8, Barmer 44.7, Jaisalmer 44.5, Jodhpur 43.5, Churu 43.2, Kota 42.7, Jaipur 41.6, Ajmer 41.5, and Udaipur 40.8 degrees Celsius.
In Odisha, following light rains and thundershowers, most parts of the state experienced respite from a grueling heatwave spell with the mercury falling at many places.
Even though eight places recorded above 40 degrees Celsius temperatures with maximum of 42.5 at Bolangir followed by 42.3 at Sambalpur, capital city Bhubaneswar recorded 38.4 degrees Celsius, down from 40.9 registered yesterday.
The maximum temperature at Cuttack stood at 36.5 degrees Celsius, while it was 35 degrees Celsius at Balasore.
The sunstroke deaths in Odisha confirmed by the state government remained 16. The number of alleged heat-related deaths also stood unchanged at 168, Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office said.
In Punjab and Haryana, the weather remained cloudy at many places but there was no rainfall and maximum temperature hovered around normal levels.
Hisar in Haryana recorded the maximum of 42 degrees Celsius whereas in Punjab, Amritsar recorded the maximum of 41. Capital city of Chandigarh recorded 37 degrees Celsius.
In Jharkhand, several places remained cloudy today. In Dhanbad it rained for about 40 minutes and the maximum temperature there was recorded at 37 degrees Celsius.
State capital Ranchi recorded 37.2 degrees Celsius, Jamshedpur 38.1, and Bokaro 38 degrees Celsius. Palamu recorded 40.6 degrees Celsius.
The MeT department there has predicted rains or thundershowers at isolated places in next 24 hours.
Isolated places received rain and thundershowers in
eastern Uttar Pradesh with the weather remaining dry in the western parts of the state.
As per the MeT office, Sultanpur received 10 cm rain, followed by Chunar (7), Chandradeepghat, Ghorawal (5 cm each) and Ayodhya, Gorakhpur, Mirzapur and Robertganj (4 cm each).
There is a forecast of moderate to heavy rain in the sub-Himalayan districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar in West Bengal, while the southern parts are likely to receive one or two spells of showers.
There was little or no rainfall in the state in 24 hours since yesterday morning.
Kolkata recorded the day's highest temperature at 31.6 degrees Celsius, the MeT office said.
There is a forecast of rain at most places in the sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Jharkhand, many places in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, a few places in Assam and Meghalaya, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha and isolated places in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Similarly, a few places in eastern Uttar Pradesh, isolated places in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and east Rajasthan are also likely to get rains whereas, the weather will remain dry in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and west Rajasthan.
Isolated places in west Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh are likely to get rains whereas, east Madhya Pradesh will witness a dry spell.
Many places in Konkan and Goa, coastal Karnataka, isolated places in the Gujarat Region, Saurashtra and Kutch, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh, interior Karnataka and Kerala are likely to get rains whereas, the weather will remain dry in Telangana, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu.
Most places in Andaman and Nicobar islands and isolated places in Lakshadweep are also likely to get rains.
