As temperatures in several parts of Delhi breached the 47 degrees Celsius mark on Monday, the weather department has said heatwave to severe heatwave conditions very likely in parts of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, west Rajasthan, a few pockets of east Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh and isolated pockets of west Madhya Pradesh until Friday (May 24).
Heatwave conditions were also likely in parts of east Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch until May 24, it said.
On Monday, the weather office in Delhi issued a 'red alert' for the next five days due to heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in the national capital.
The Palam station, near the international airport, recorded a maximum temperature of 48.4 degrees Celsius on May 26, 1998. Palam has records dating back to 1956.
The searing heat pushed the city's peak power demand to its highest for May, while the Delhi government directed the schools that have not closed for summer vacations to do so with immediate effect.
Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded a maximum temperature of 45.6 degrees Celsius on Monday and predicted a heat wave for the next four days.
The district's administration announced summer vacations for students of classes 9 to 12 across all schools in Noida and Greater Noida amid severe heatwave conditions.
Temperatures remained above 45 degrees Celsius in large parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh, affecting daily life as many chose to remain indoors in the afternoon.
In Madhya Pradesh, Ratlam and Nowgong recorded a maximum temperature of 45.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Datia at 45.2 degrees, Khajuraho at 44.8 degrees, and Gwalior at 44.7 degrees.
Earlier, the weather department had warned of extreme heat in India during the April-June period, coinciding with the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections that end on June 1.
The threshold for a heatwave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in the coastal areas, and 30 degrees in the hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.
A severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal exceeds 6.4 notches.
While large parts of northern India were expected to reel under the scorching heat, southern states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu were drenched by rain on Monday, an indication of the southwest monsoon's onset later this month.
According to the India Meteorological Department, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal were very likely to receive isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall until May 21 (today).
News agency ANI said waterlogging was reported in several parts of Tamil Nadu.
Source: India Today