WEATHER REVIEW: During the week ended April 7, one western disturbance as an upper air cyclone system moved across the extreme northwest India. Rain or snow occurred at a few places in Jammu and Kashmir and at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh. Rain or thundershowers also occurred at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and at isolated places in Punjab, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Karnataka. Dry weather prevailed in rest regions of the country.

Barring some parts in the northeast and Kerala, the dry spell continued throughout the country this week. During the week ended April 7, out of 35 meteorological sub-divisions of the country,rainfall was normal to excess in only 4 sub-divisions and deficient to scanty in 12 sub-divisions while no rains occurred in 19 sub-divisions.

During the period March 1 to April 7, the cumulative rainfall was excess in only 2 meteorological sub-divisions, deficient in 5 sub-divisions and scanty in 20 sub-divisions.

On April 9, rain or snow occurred at a few places in Jammu and Kashmir and at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh.

TEMPERATURES: Heat wave conditions prevailed in most parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat state and in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, north central Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and interior Orissa during the week ended April 7. These conditions extended to some parts of Bihar on April 3 and further to Assam and Meghalaya on April 4 and abated from these areas towards the end of the week.

The day temperatures were above normal by 2øC to 3øC in most parts of peninsular India and nearly normal in the rest areas.

On April 8, day temperatures fell appreciably in thehills of west UP, fell in Himachal Pradesh and east UP and changed little eleswhere in north India. They were appreciably above normal in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and in the plains of west UP and above normal in the rest of the region of north India.

The highest temperature in the region was 45.8øC recorded at Dholpur in Rajasthan.

The maximum early morning day temperature was as high as 8øC above normal in Udaipur followed by 7øC above normal in Hissar, 6øC above normal in Srinagar and Jaipur, 5øC above normal in Shimla, Amritsar, Bhopal and Hyderabad, 4øC above normal in Chandigarh, Jammu, Ahmedabad and Nagpur, 3øC above normal in Delhi, Patiala, Allahabad, Bangalore and Chennai, 2øC above normal in Lucknow, Dehradunand une and 1øC above normal in Thiruvananthapuram and Varanasi. However, the maximum early morning day temperature was 2øC below normal in Agartala and Guwahati and 1øC below normal in Calcutta and Shillong.

The minimum early morning day temperatures were as high as6øC above normal in Hissar, followed by 5øC above normal in Shimla, 4øC above normal in Jaipur, Lucknow and Varanasi, 3øC above normal in Allahabad, 2øC above normal in Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu, Srinagar, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and 1øC above normal in Dehradun, Bangalore, Bhopal, Calcutta, Chennai, Guwahati, Nagpur, Patna and Shillong. However, the minimum early morning day temperature was 1øC below normal in Agartala.

WEATHER FORECAST: Under the influence of a fresh western disturbance, rain or snowfall activity is likely to increase in the second half of the week over western Himalayas. Scattered rain or thundershowers are likely in sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and northeastern states and isolated in Punjab, Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, south peninsula and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Rain or snow is likely at isolated places in HImachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Rain or thundershowers are likely at isolated places in Punjab and east UP. Weather will remain mainly dryin the rest of the region of north India.

HAZE SITUATION: In the early morning haze was seen in Jammu, Jaipur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna and Pune.