Heat wave sweeps 10 states; Delhi touches 38 degrees C

New Delhi: The heat wave continued to sweep across 10 states on Thursday and the national capital hotted up at 38.3 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average, officials said.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the heat wave would continue for the next two-three days at many places in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat and Haryana.

The number of states gripped by the heat wave have gone up from three to ten in the past three days to 10 since Monday.

Among the worse hit regions were Rajasthan and Maharashtra, where the temperature varied from 42 to 44.6 degrees Celsius.

"Heat wave is very likely to develop and prevail at isolated places over Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana, during next two-three days," the IMD stated.

The IMD added that heat wave would continue to sweeping through Uttar Pradesh, west Gangetic regions of West Bengal, Odisha, Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat and southern regions of Harayana.

"Some isolated and large regions of these states are facing the heat waves... The intensity varies from normal to severe... this is the current situation which is expected to continue for some more days," an official of the IMD told IANS.

Weather analysts said Delhi would also be swept by heat wave condition in the next few days.

"Wednesday's maximum temperature in Delhi was 39.6 degrees Celsius, which was six degrees above normal... from the current trend, it could be said that within the next few days, Delhi will see heat wave," Mahesh Palawat, Director at private weather forecaster Skymet, told IANS.

Palawat said around April 5, regions of Haryana and Punjab could see some pre-monsoon rains which may bring some temporary relief.

"The month of April will be very hot, the pre-monsoon rain will bring relief but it would be temporary... May would see some relief though," Palawat said.

Meanwhile, the northeastern states including Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur would see heavy to very heavy rains and Mizoram and Tripura would witness hail along with heavy rains in the next 24 hours, according to the weatherman.

Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir had a soothing temperature which nonetheless was at least seven degrees above the season's average.

On Thursday, the maximum temperature in Srinagar was 25 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 8.5 degrees Celsius. Shimla saw a maximum of 25 degrees Celsius and minimum of 14 degrees Celsius. However, Jammu was warm at 33.6 degrees Celsius (maximum) and a minimum of 19.6 degrees Celsius.

Heat wave occurs when the maximum temperature reaches above 40 degrees Celsius and at least 5 degrees above the season's average and stays same for five days.