New Delhi: The much-awaited Monsoon has hit the Kerala coast on Saturday, after a delay of one week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has confirmed. The state's coastal regions have been experiencing downpours since early Saturday morning, which are set to intensify later in the evening, an IMD official told media.

Meanwhile, Skymet Director Mahesh Palawat told that the monsoon will hit Delhi-NCR by the first week of July.

The north and central regions of India seethed under heatwave conditions Friday forcing people to stay indoors, even as a severe dust storm and lightning in various parts of Uttar Pradesh claimed at least 26 lives and left 57 injured.
The weatherman has warned of heatwave conditions continuing in north and central India next week, and predicted "severe heatwave" in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Vidarbha in Maharashtra from Saturday till Tuesday.
On Friday, Hoshangabad in west Madhya Pradesh was the hottest at 46.8 degrees Celsius, while Rajasthan's Churu was close behind at 46.6 degrees Celsius.
However rainfall brought slight respite from the heat in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and some eastern states including, Wset Bengal Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Heatwave continued in parts of Rajasthan notwithstanding slight drop in temperatures compared to Thursday as Barmer sizzled at 46.4 degrees Celsius, Kota 46.1 degrees Celsius and Bikaner 45.8 degrees Celsius
In the national capital, the mercury dipped marginally due to strong wind activity, gusting up to 20 kilometers per hour, with the city recording a high of 40.5 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year.