Sultry conditions prevail across northern India; relief likely for Delhi by weekend

The national capital is expected to see a fresh spell of rains over the weekend.

New Delhi: There was rainfall and thundershowers in many parts of India on Monday, with heavy to very heavy downpour being recorded at isolated places in the east, north-east and the south, while sultry weather conditions prevailed in most of the northern region.

An India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin said heavy to very heavy rainfall was observed at isolated places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Lakshadweep and coastal Andhra Pradesh and heavy rainfall at isolated places over eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Maharashtra, coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Konkan and Goa and Tamil Nadu.

Rain/thundershower was observed at most places over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Marathawada, Konkan and Goa, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Lakshadweep, Karnataka and Kerala and Mahe, it said.

Similar conditions were observed at many places over Saurashtra and Kutch, at a few places over west Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and Gangetic West Bengal, the IMD added.

The weather office said it was a sultry day in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. The national capital is expected to see a fresh spell of rains over the weekend, it added. The weather office said rainfall/thundershowers was very likely at a few places in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in the western part on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a man drowned and two more went missing in the flooded Vidupa river in Buldhana district of Maharashtra on Monday.

A group of five friends had gone for a swim in the flooded river of which three were swept away by fast-flowing waters, the local police said.

The body of one of them, Gangaram Shantiram (30), was later recovered from the river, while Dnyaneshwar Dhondiram Bhalerao (22) and Balu Suresh Bangar (23) are still missing, they said.

In Delhi, the maximum temperature settled at 36.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above the normal, as rains continued to give the city a miss. Humidity levels ranged between 55 and 88 per cent.

The national capital has recorded 74 per cent less rainfall in September so far, according to the IMD. The Safdarjung Observatory has recorded just 20.9 mm rainfall against the normal of 80.3 mm this month so far.

The IMD has said that the monsoon is likely to stay longer in Delhi and start withdrawing only in the "initial days of October".

In Haryana and Punjab, the maximum temperatures continued to hover above normal limits. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a high of 35.1 degrees Celsius.

Narnaul in Haryana was the hottest place in the state at 37.2 degrees Celsius, up two degrees against normal limits.

Hisar also experienced sultry weather at 36.8 degrees Celsius, while Ambala recorded a high of 35.6 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, Patiala recorded a high of 36.5 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal limits. Amritsar and Ludhiana also recorded above-normal maximum temperatures of 35.7 degrees Celsius and 36 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The southwest monsoon has remained subdued in the region during the past several days. According to the weather office in Chandigarh, mainly dry weather is likely to prevail at most places in the two states over the next two days.

Light to moderate rainfall and thundershowers occurred at isolated places across Uttar Pradesh during the day, the meteorological department said in Lucknow. Isolated areas in the state also saw thunderstorms accompanied with lightning, it added.

The IMD said fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls was very likely over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, coastal and north-interior Karnataka and Kerala and Mahe during the next 4-5 days.

Moderate thunderstorm with lightning is very likely at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gangetic West Bengal, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Vidharbha, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathawada, Telangana, Karnataka, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam during the next 12 hours, the weather bulletin updated at 4.15 pm said.