At 44.8 degrees Celsius, Lucknow witnesses hottest May day in 24 yrs

LUCKNOW: The state capital on Thursday witnessed one of its hottest days in the month of May in 24 years with the mercury touching 44.8 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal.
The ugly news? The heat wave will intensify and the Celsius is likely to surge till at least Saturday.
While the maximum temperature recorded at the Met observatory at Amausi was 44.8 degrees Celsius, it felt like 47 degrees in the heart of the city amid concrete buildings and high pollution levels.On Friday, the mercury may kiss 45 degrees, weathermen warned.
Two other UP cities also broke heat records on Thursday. In Allahabad, the daytime high was a killing 48.6 degrees Celsius, seven points above normal. The reading was not only the highest in the country, but also the highest-ever mercury since 1951 when the state Met department came into existence. Banda followed close on the heels with 48.2 degrees Celsius and was the second hottest in the country.
Lucknow had recorded its second hottest summer day this year on April 30 when the Celsius notched 44.6 degrees. In 2018, the record was on May 26, when the mercury read 44.8 degrees Celsius. The city's all-time high since 1951 has been 46.5 degrees Celsius recorded on May 31, 1995.
State Met director JP Gupta said clear skies and the hot, dry north-westerly winds from Rajasthan were responsible for the intense heat. He said maximum temperatures were 5-7 degrees above normal in most places in the state. In fact, most cities in UP recorded their hottest day of this summer on Thursday. Jhansi read a maximum of 46.7 degrees Celsius, Agra 46.3 degrees Celsius, Varanasi 46.1 degrees Celsius and Kanpur 45.8 degrees Celsius.
No significant change in weather condition is expected till Sunday. Gupta, however, held out hope and said a low-pressure area was building over north India. Simultaneously, a high-pressure area is forming over the Bay of Bengal.
"The two factors will change the wind pattern on Sunday and Monday. Moisture-laden south-easterly winds are expected to penetrate the state's atmosphere and drag down temperatures by a couple of degrees," he said. "However, these winds will also turn weather sultry," he warned.