Strong winds, intense lightning and spells of rain swept across Delhi-NCR on Tuesday evening, bringing little respite from soaring temperatures and heatwave conditions.

Palam recorded the highest gusty wind speed of 111 kilometres per hour during the evening hours, while the Pusa area reported maximum winds of 48 kilometres per hour.

The sudden change in weather came amid persistent heatwave conditions prevailing across the Delhi-NCR region over the past few days.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a partly cloudy sky on Wednesday with the possibility of thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places for the national capital. However, the maximum temperature is expected to settle at around 44 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature may hover around 30 degrees Celsius.

Delhi likely to get relief from heat

Despite the possibility of thunderstorm development, Delhi is expected to remain hot on Wednesday, with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 44 degrees Celsius and the minimum around 30 degrees Celsius.

However, the Met Department has issued an orange alert for rain accompanied by thunderstorms, lighting and gusty winds on Thursday, followed by gradual fall in temperature by 3-5 degrees Celsius.  

Monsoon advances further

While north India remains under the grip of heat, the southwest monsoon has advanced further into the country.

Heavy rain in southern India and the Northeast

Fairly widespread rainfall activity is expected to continue over the Northeast, with very heavy rainfall likely over parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Southern India is also likely to witness active monsoon conditions as heavy rainfall has been forecast over Kerala, Coastal Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka, Telangana and parts of Tamil Nadu, while isolated very heavy rainfall is likely to occur over Kerala and Karnataka.