Rain lashes parts of north India: drought grips Karnataka

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) Rains lowered the soaring mercury in Delhi and Hisar today though heat wave conditions prevailed at many places in North India and drought conditions gripped Karnataka for want of pre-monsoon showers.

Light showers brought some relief to the residents of Hisar, where the mercury had touched 44.3 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal this afternoon.

However, the remaining parts of Haryana and Punjab experienced heat wave like conditions with maximum temperatures remaining one to three degrees above normal.

In Punjab, the temperature in a majority of the places touched 40 degrees. Amritsar and Ludhiana were hot at 41.2 degrees, three and two degrees above normal respectively. Patiala too was warm at 41.8 degrees, three degrees above normal. Chandigarh registered 39.4 degrees.

The temperature at Karnal, in Haryana, was up by three degrees, settling at 40.0 degrees, two degrees above normal. Ambala recorded 39.8 degrees, one degree above normal.

In Himachal Pradesh, Shimla despite having light showers, recorded a high of 25.0 degrees, three degrees above normal, while Bhuntar in Kullu district recorded 33.3 degrees, three degrees above normal. Sundernagar in Mandi district recorded 36.9 degrees. Even in the Kashmir valley the temperature nearly touched 30 degrees.

The met office said the maximum temperature in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir was recorded at 29.0 degrees while the minimum stood at 11.8 degrees.

In Pahalgam, the maximum stood at 24.4 degrees while the minimum was recorded at 5.0 degrees.

Heat wave conditions prevailed in Jammu where the maximum temperature was recorded at 39.1 degree and minimum at 23.5 degrees.

Karnataka reeled under severe drought conditions due to failure of pre-monsoon showers and heat wave conditions prevailing in several parts of the state.

Adding to the woes of the people were shortage of drinking water and power shut-down in many parts of the rural areas.

Besides Hyderabad-Karnataka regions, including the districts in Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Bijapur, Koppal and Bagalkot, where life was miserable in rural areas, the situation was not much different in the Cauvery basin districts of Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Mysore.

In Northern parts of the state it has been one of the worst summers with mercury hovering around 42 degrees.

In the national capital, a fresh spell of rains and strong thunderstorms lent a cool air to the weather.

Strong North Easterly winds, blowing at a speed of 72 km per hour, suddenly hit the capital at around 1510 hrs, followed by a short spell of heavy rains.

Immediately after the rain and thunderstorms, the day temperature fell by 7.5 degrees Celsius, to 31.5 degrees. But the maximum rose to 40.6 degrees, one degree above normal, after the rains.

Weatherman said a total of 7.8 mm of rainfall was recorded till 1730 hrs.

It was scorchingly hot in Asom as the average day temperature in Guwahati for the past week had been maximum 37 degrees and night temperature 25 degrees.

Madhya Pradesh continued to reel under severe heat wave conditions, where Rajgarh recorded highest temperature at 44 degrees, even as some parts received light rainfall.

Heat wave conditions prevailed at isolated places in east Rajasthan and Vidarbha. Hot day conditions prevailed in west Rajasthan and at isolated places in Marathwada.

Day temperatures were appreciably to markedly above normal in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Sub-Himalayan west Bengal and Sikkim, south Madhya Maharashtra and of coastal Karnataka and were above normal in some parts of coastal Orissa, Haryana, Saurashtra and Kutch, Punjab, north Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Tamil Nadu and of Kerala.

UNI