Lucknow records hottest day in 2 years

LUCKNOW: The city recorded its hottest day in the past two years on Friday with maximum temperature touching 44.3 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal. No significant change is expected on Saturday, but Sunday might be partly cloudy with gusty winds bringing down temperatures by a few degrees.
Dry hot winds and scorching heat made people stay indoors and those who came out took measures to prevent them from the heatstroke.But still many reportedly fell ill as the impact of heat increased due to concrete structures around and pollution in the environment.
On April 30 this year, maximum temperature was 43.4 degrees Celsius. In 2012, mercury had touched 44.7 degrees Celsius on May 30 and 45.4 degrees Celsius on June 14. In 2013, temperature remained below 44 degrees Celsius. However, this year it may rise further in the coming days.
State Met director JP Gupta said that dry hot winds coming from desert area are lashing the state, leading to rise in temperatures. Though, he said, thunder/dust storms occurred in some districts bordering Uttarakhand due to the impact of western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir, rest of UP reeled under intense heat.
The wind pattern, however, is expected to change on May 25-26. The heat is creating low pressure area in east UP. As hot air moves up, it leaves behind vacuum, which is filled by comparatively lesser hot wind in the adjoining area. "We expect moisture laden easterly winds to penetrate into the state due to change in the wind pattern, which in turn may cause cloudy sky and dust/thunderstorm in some parts of east UP. Partly cloudy sky and strong winds are expected in Lucknow as well," Met director predicted. However, he added, hot weather conditions will be back soon after a brief spell of some relief.
On Friday, if Lucknow was sweltering, Allahabad was the hottest in the state with maximum temperature 46.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Banda at 45.4 degrees Celsius, Agra 44.8 degrees Celsius and Sultanpur 44.4 degrees Celsius. Maximum temperature in Kanpur and Rae Bareli was 44 degrees Celsius each, Varanasi 43.5 degrees Celsius, Rae Bareli 44 degrees Celsius, Jhansi 43.4 degrees Celsius, Hamirpur 44.2 degrees Celsius and Hardoi, Basti, Orai and Bahriach recorded 43 degrees Celsius each. In fact, temperatures were 3-5 degrees above normal in many parts of the state.