New Delhi, June 24: Heat wave continued to sweep the Northern belt on Wednesday with Hisar in Haryana sizzling at 45.8 degrees Celsius even as the government said monsoon rainfall is likely to be less than what the weatherman had forecast.
Rajasthan, intense heat wave prevailed in most parts of Punjab and Haryana with the mercury remaining between one to five degrees above normal in the two states.
Churu was the second hottest place in Rajasthan with a maximum of 43.6, a fall by a degree from yesterday.
Temperatures fell by one or two notches at Jodhpur, Dabok and Bikaner recording 38.1 and 37.6 and 39.2 respectively in the desert state.
The Pink city Jaipur recorded a high of 42 degrees.
Meanwhile, Earth Sciences Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here that quantitatively, monsoon rainfall for the country as a whole is likely to be 93 per cent of the long-period average, less by three per cent than what the IMD had forecast in April.
There was no respite in Haryana where Hisar sizzled at 45.8 degrees while mercury in the Union Territory of Chandigarh settled at 42.6 degrees, five notches above normal at both the places. The holy city Amritsar in Punjab registered 41.2 degrees, a notch above normal.
Mercury continued its upward trend in the national capital where temperature rose to 43.9 degrees, about five degrees above normal. The minimum was recorded at 31.7 degrees. People sweltered under hot conditions in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh in the absence of rain and snow.
The hottest place in the state was Sundernagar at 41.2. Una was hot at 43.2 degrees followed by Mandi at 41.1.
The capital city Shimla recorded the maximum of 30.4 degrees.
–Agencies