Lucknow: Relief from scorching heat continued in the city for second day on Saturday. Similar conditions will continue for next two days, followed by gradual rise in mercury levels again.Temperatures that had fallen below normal following thunderstorm in the wee-hours of Friday, continued to remain low on Saturday. Though no thunderstorm was witnessed on Saturday, strong moist winds kept weather conditions comfortable.Maximum temperature was 34 degrees Celsius, 6.1 units below normal, while minimum temperature was 24.5 degrees Celsius, a degree below normal. Relative humidity was high and oscillated between 47%-79%.India Meteorological Department (IMD), Lucknow, predicted maximum and minimum temperatures on Sunday would be around 33 and 24 degrees, Celsius respectively. Morning will be partly cloudy and cloud cover will increase during the day.It also forecast one or two spells of thundershowers in the afternoon or evening accompanied by lightning along with winds measuring 40-50 kmph, gusting up to 60 kmph.Meanwhile, most parts of the state too experienced drop in mercury levels by 4 to 7 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Some parts were lashed by thunder/dust storms.Moradabad was hottest place in the state maximum temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Fatehgarh at 38 and Lakhimpur Kheri at 37. Etawah and Gorakhpur recorded lowest maximum temperatures at 32.6 degrees Celsius each, while Barabanki recorded 33.5 degrees Celsius.“Thunderstorms accompanied by winds 80-90 kmph are expected to lash several places in the state on Sunday. The wind gust at isolated areas may reach up to 100 kmph,” said Mohammad Danish, senior scientist at IMD Lucknow.“Change in weather condition is being driven by a western disturbance and moisture-laden easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal. Similar weather conditions are expected across parts of UP for the next few days”, he explained.Meteorologists said the current weather system has temporarily ended heatwave in the state, but temperatures will start rising gradually at the beginning of Jun and increase by 5 to 7 degrees Celsius in the first week, thereby reviving the intense hot conditions.
