Heatwave alert in nine states; temperature nears 45°C
A western disturbance will, however, bring thunderstorms to J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab on Tuesday, the IMD said in its forecast.
The weather department issued an orange alert for dangerously high temperatures in three states, West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, and said heatwave conditions are likely in parts of four others — Sikkim, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh — as what might be a tougher summer than usual began taking hold across the country.
As India's financial capital has been reeling under scorching heat, the city recorded 39.4 degrees celsius maximum temperature on Sunday, which was the highest day temperature of the season in the country. India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a heatwave alert for Mumbai from Friday to Sunday.City's Santacruz observatory recorded the maximum temperature in 24 hours at 39.4 degrees Celsius which was six degrees above normal and the measuring at IMD Colaba observatory was 35.8 which was four degrees above normal.Last week, the city recorded its maximum temperature at 39.3 degrees.
Notably, Mumbai's maximum temperature these days are higher than Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan's Thar Desert, which has been traditionally recognised as India's hottest spot. The maximum temperature in Sri Ganganagar now is between 34-36 degrees Celsius. However, the summer is yet to start in Sri Ganganagar.
