A heatwave spell scorching North India for the last two days is predicted to worsen on Saturday and Sunday, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing an ‘orange’ alert, warning that the mercury may soar to 46-47 degrees Celsius in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
Chandigarh saw the mercury rise to 43 degrees Celsius.The weather stations at Hisar and Bathinda had recorded maximum temperatures of 46.4 degrees Celsius and 45.4 degrees Celsius, respectively, six notches above normal for this time of the year.The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings — green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).Cloudy skies and thunder may provide some relief from the intense heat next week.This is the fifth heatwave — one in March and three in April– this summer season.Dry weather most likely is to continue over Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during next 2 days resulting to Heatwave to severe heat wave conditions.With approach of a fresh western disturbance, light rainfall is likely at isolated places over northern and north-western parts of Punjab and Haryana, including Chandigarh on May 16 and 17, as per a MeT release, which says that the rain spell is likely to be accompanied with thundestorm/duststorm/lightning and gusty winds.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature was recorded at 47 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh. Similarly, the weather stations at Jafarpur and Mungeshpur recorded maximum temperatures of 45.8 degrees Celsius and 47.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.
While all the stations recorded a maximum temperature above 44 degrees Celsius, similar conditions are likely to continue for the next two days.
