New Delhi: There seems to relief in sight from the heatwave for residents of Rajasthan and Punjab as the MeT department has predicted thunderstorms and rainfall in isolated pockets of the states from Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Rajasthan woke up to cloudy skies and temperatures dropped by two to four degrees Celsius, PTI quoted a MeT department spokesperson as saying. This was due to a low intensity western disturbance.
"Thunderstorms in Jodhpur and Bikaner divisions, along with strong winds blowing at a speed of 30 to 40 kilometers per hour, are expected on Wednesday," he said.
Maximum temperatures in most parts of Rajasthan have been touching 45 degrees Celsius in the past few days as the heatwave spell intesified.
The MeT department also said a western disturbance might bring rainfall over parts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday.
"Dust-raising winds with a speed of 20-30 kmph are likely over southern parts of Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday and Wednesday," the weathe department said.
"Isolated thunderstorm/lightning/gusty winds (speed 30-40 kmph) also likely over Jammu-Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on April 12 and 13 and over Uttarakhand on April 13 and 14 and over Haryana on April 13," the IMD said.
However, the weather department has said that northwest India and adjoining parts of central India would see more intense and frequent heatwave conditions in April.
On Monday, temperatures settled above the 40-degree mark in most parts of Haryana and Punjab. In Haryana, Faridabad's Bopani recorded a high of 45.3 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab, Bathinda recorded a maximum temperature of 43.4 degrees Celsius. Amritsar recorded a high of 41.2 degrees Celsius, Ludhiana 41.5 degrees Celsius, Patiala 42.6 degrees Celsius and Jalandhar 41.7 degrees Celsius.
For the plains, a 'heatwave' is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 4.5 notches above normal. A 'severe heatwave' is declared if the departure from normal temperature is more than 6.4 notches, according to the IMD.
(With PTI inputs)