Mercury rises in North India; dust storms claim 8 lives in UP

New Delhi, May 24: Temperatures rose marginally across North India on Monday, May 23 after a rain-filled weekend provided much relief from the sweltering heat, even as dust storms left eight more people dead in Uttar Pradesh.

In the national capital, the maximum temperature recorded was 37.1 deg C, two degrees less than normal at this time of the season. The minimum too settled four degrees below normal at 21.9 deg C, the MeT office said.

The city received 0.2 mm of rainfall during the past 24 hours. Eight persons were killed in the different parts of UP due to dust storms, officials said.

While three persons each were killed in Fatehpur and Ballia districts, two persons died in Orai area on Sunday, they said.

Light to moderate rainfall was recorded at Pratapgarh and Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Banda besides others places in the state.

Rains also lashed few places in Haryana for the third consecutive day on Monday while dry conditions prevailed in most parts of Punjab.

The maximum temperature in Chandigarh was recorded 36 deg C, three degrees below normal, Ambala 36.8 deg C, down three notches, while Hisar had a high of 36 deg C, five below normal, the MeT Department said.

Ludhiana recorded a maximum of 36 deg C, three below normal while the high at Patiala settled at 37.9 deg C.

Amritsar's maximum stood at 39.6 deg C. Several places in Rajasthan recorded light rains during the past 24 hours bringing the mercury down.

According to the Met Dept, Jaisalmer remained the hottest place in the state recording a maximum of 41.8 degrees Celsius, followed by Kota at 41.5 degrees.

Bikaner, Jodhpur and Ajmer recorded maximum of 41.3, 39.4 and 39.5 deg C respectively while other cities recorded day temperatures in the range of 38.9 degree Celsius to 38 degrees.

In Uttarakhand, the weather remained mainly dry with temperatures hovering around 33-35 deg C in Dehradun, the MeT office said.

PTI