Rains hit many places in north India

New Delhi: Many parts of North India received light to heavy rainfall on Monday, bringing down mercury but sultry conditions prevailed in the region.

Extremely high humidity was recorded in Delhi a day after heavy rains lashed the national capital, making things uncomfortable for those who stepped out.

While the day temperature settled at 36.6 degrees Celsius today, three notches above normal, the city received 25.6 mm of rains in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Monday. No rain was recorded after that, the Met department said.

However, the rain caused humidity levels to shoot up to between 62 and 88 per cent.

The overnight showers also caused the minimum temperature to plummet to 25.9 degrees Celsius, one point below normal, after it had hovered above the 30-degree mark for almost an entire last week.

Light to heavy rains hit eastern and southern parts of Rajasthan while many places in the west sizzled at around-40 degrees Celsius temperatures on Monday.

Aklera in Jhalawar district recorded the most rainfall at 8 cm, whereas Bikaner was the hottest place with a maximum temperature of 43.8 degrees Celsius, a Met report said.

The report said Desuri received 6 cm rainfall followed by Sagwara, Jagpura, Sarara, Degod, Anta 5 cms each, Shahpura, Srinagar, Jhalrapatan, Atru, Chhabra, Dhambola 4 cms each, Bagidora, Dungarpur, Rajsamand, Vijay Nagar Nathdwara 3 cms each, and one to 2 cms at many places.

In western Rajasthan, heat wave conditions persisted as Ganganagar recorded a maximum temperature of 43.4 degrees Celsius followed by Jaisalmer and Churu 41.6, Barmer 40, Pilani 39.2 and Jaipur 39 degrees Celsius.

Moderate to heavy rains occurred at isolated places across the Uttar Pradesh.

Mohana in Unnao received the highest rainfall at 13 cm, followed by Balarampur 9 cm, Kanpur 7 cm, Malihabad (Lucknow), Barabanki 6 cm each, Bah 5 cm, Unnao 4 cm, Paliakalam, Bani 3 cm each, Mohamdi, Bharthana, Sardanagar, Safipur 2 cm each, and Hasanganj, Dhaurahra, Neemsar, Mukhlishpur, Amroha, Nawabganj, Anupsahar 1 cm each, the Met office said.

Temperatures hovered a few notches above the normal level in Punjab and Haryana with light rains occurring at a few places in the region.

Chandigarh recorded a high of 36.4 degrees Celsius, a degree above normal, and received 0.2 mm of rain, Met department report said.

In Haryana, Ambala, Bhiwani, Hisar, Karnal and Narnaul recorded maximum temperatures at 36.9, 40, 41.3, 36, and 38.1 degrees Celsius, rising up to three notches above the normal mark.

In Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala received rainfall of 0.7 mm and 0.2 mm respectively while recording maximum temperatures at 36.1 degrees Celsius and 36.4 degrees Celsius. Amritsar had a high of 38.4 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.

In view of rising temperatures, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir announced a 17-day-long summer vacation in all educational institutions including colleges in Kashmir division and winter zone of Jammu region from Tuesday.