Rajasthan, Punjab reel under heat wave; heavy rains likely in South, northeast India.

NewDelhi: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a fresh warning about thunderstorm and heavy rains over parts of India. While thunderstorm is likely in some parts of east and North India, parts of south and northeast are expected to receive heavy showers.

Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning is also expected at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa, central Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, interior Karnataka and coastal Andhra Pradesh, the weather department predicted.

Also, the IMD forecasted that heavy rains are expected at isolated places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Thunderstorm and dust storm are ‘very likely’ at isolated places in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh in the next 48 hours, IMD said on Sunday. According to the meteorological department, the districts that might be hit by thunderstorm or dust storm are Banda, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Bareilly, Rampur, Moradabad, Meerut, Bijnore, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.

Rajasthan, however, will continue to reel under heatwave with Sriganganagar recording a high of 48.2 degrees Celsius, the Met department informed.

Hot weather conditions prevailed in most parts of Haryana and Punjab, with Narnaul sizzling at a high of 44.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.

Among other places in Haryana, blistering heat swept Hisar, which recorded a high of 42.9 degrees Celsius and Bhiwani registered a maximum temperature of 42.1 degrees Celsius, the MeT Department said.

There was no let up in the heatwave conditions in Rajasthan with Sriganganagar being the hottest in the state at 48.2 degrees Celsius. Churu was the second hottest place with a maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius, according to the MeT department.

Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Kota, Barmer, Pilani and Jaipur also sizzled at 46.7, 45, 44.7, 44.5, 44 and 43.7 degrees respectively.

In Gujarat, meanwhile, the power demand is at its peak, with average daily demand touching up to 16,000 MW, due to severe heatwave conditions.