No sight of monsoon, mercury soars to new highs in North India

NEW DELHI: With no sight of monsoon in north India, mercury soared in various parts of the region including the national capital, which today recorded the hottest day of July in the last two years.

Delhi residents experienced the hottest day of July as the maximum temperature settled at 41.3 degree Celsius and there were no signs of rains.

The maximum temperature was higher by a notch from yesterday's 40.5 degree Celsius and the minimum temperature settled at 30 degrees Celsius as against 29.6 degrees Celsius yesterday.

Humidity levels, however, hovered between 65 and 32 per cent, a considerable drop from last week's extreme highs of 80 to 90 per cent.

In Rajasthan too there was no respite from blistering heat as the mercury soared to 44.2 degree Celsius in Churu, almost six degrees more than normal for this time of the year.

Ganganagar recorded maximum temperature of 42.7 degree C followed by Jaipur at 42.3 deg C, Pilani at 42 degree C.

Keeping up with similar trend, maximum temperatures in Punjab and Haryana also soared several notches above normal for this time of the year.

While Haryana's Hisar sizzled at 42.5 deg C, Ambala, Bhiwani and Narnaul recorded maximum at 39 deg C, 41.8 deg C and 42 deg C.

In Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded a high of 40.2 deg C, 40 deg C and 39.5 deg C, rising by up to four notches above normal.

Monsoon remained weak in Himachal Pradesh even as scattered rains occurred at isolated and minimum temperatures decreased marginally.

Nadaun in Hamirpur district received 24 mm rainfall, while Mandi and Bangana received 18 mm rains, followed by Shimla and Mehre 16 mm, among other areas.

The minimum temperature dropped marginally to stay at 10.6 degree C in Keylong, 11.6 degree C at Manali and 16.2 degree C in Shimla.