Heat wave relents in Uttar Pradesh, but Ballia sizzles at 42°C

After a searing week, the intensity of the heat wave weakened across Uttar Pradesh, with the mercury dropping below 40 degrees Celsius at several places.

In the state capital, it was 39.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday, whereas the night temperature rose significantly, touching the 27.5 degrees Celsius mark, which is 4.4 degrees above normal.

The forecast for the next 24 hours for Lucknow is mainly clear to partly cloudy sky, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to be around 40 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Heat wave conditions, however, prevailed in Ballia, Bahraich, Sultanpur and Ghazipur in East UP. On Sunday, Ballia recorded the highest maximum day temperature, with the mercury rising to 42 degrees Celsius, which is 3.4 degrees above normal.

The weather is expected to remain dry over West UP. Rain or thundershowers are very likely at isolated places over East UP.

The IMD has issued a warning of thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (speed 40-50 kmph) very likely at isolated places over East UP.

During the last 24 hours, night temperatures increased significantly in the Prayagraj division of the state along with Varanasi (Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur), Ayodhya (Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Amethi), Kanpur (Auraiya, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat), Lucknow (Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Unnao), Jhansi (Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur), and Agra (Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Mathura) divisions. There was no large change in the rest of the divisions.

The lowest minimum temperature in the state was recorded in Muzaffarnagar at 18.8 °C.