Heatwave sweeps across Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana; strong thunderstorm, dust storm alert

After massive thunderstorm affected several places across the country recently, heatwave conditions were reported in most parts of Rajasthan on Friday. Punjab and Haryana also recorded high temperature, a Meteorological official said.

The MeT department also warned of dust storm/thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds at isolated places in the states in the next 24 hours.

Kota and Barmer in Rajasthan recorded the hottest with 44 degrees Celsisus each on Friday, while Jaisalmer, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner recorded 42.8, 42.5, 42.5 and 42.4 degrees Celsius followed by 41.6, 41.4, 41.2 in Churu, Jaipur and Dabok, the official said. 

Traces were recorded in Sriganganagar where maximum temperature was recorded 40.5 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in most of the cities was recorded in between 24 and 31 degrees Celsius, he said.

Hot weather conditions in Punjab and Haryana 

In Punjab and Haryana too, hot weather conditions continued to prevail with Narnaul recording the hottest in the region at 41.5 degree Celsius on Friday.

Chandigarh, joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded the maximum of 39 degrees Celsius, one notch above the normal limits, as per the Meteorological department report.

In Haryana, Bhiwani and Hisar also experienced hot weather conditions at 40.2 and 40.9 degrees Celsius respectively. The maximum temperatures of Karnal and Ambala were 38 and 38.6 degrees Celsius, respectively.

In Punjab, Amritsar's maximum was 39.1 degrees Celsius while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded their respective maximum temperatures at 40 and 38.6 degrees Celsius.

According to the MeT forecast, light to moderate rains and thundershowers may occur at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana over the next two days while thunderstorm with gusty winds are also likely at isolated places in the two states until Saturday.

Monsoon may hit Odisha in June second week

The South West Monsoon is likely to hit Odisha in the second week of June, the regional meteorological centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

Stating that the S-W monsoon is most likely to hit Kerala on May 29, IMD local director Sarat Chandra Sahoo said the monsoon will move towards Odisha coast and the present weather condition is favourable to drag the monsoon current.

Usually, the SW Monsoon reaches Odisha on June 10, he said.

The weatherman has also issued thunderstorm warning for three districts - Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Keonjhar.

In its forecast for Saturday, the IMD said a thunder squall accompanied by hail and gusty surface wind speed reaching 50-60 Kmph is likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Angul, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur, Puri, Cuttack, Nayagarh Khurda, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Nawarangpur and Nuapara.

(With inputs from agencies)