Photos of Delhi's nightmare: Nature's revenge, best served hot!

In the midst of an intense heatwave gripping Delhi-NCR, a weather station in the capital sent newsrooms across the nation into a frenzy when it reported a temperature of 52.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the highest officially recorded in India.

​A crow quenches its thirst on a hot summer day in Delhi, which experienced a temperature of 52.3 degrees Celsius at Chanakyapuri, Vivekananda Camp.

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The scorching heat in Delhi led to an unprecedented peak power demand of 8,302 megawatt (MW) on Wednesday afternoon, crossing the discoms’ anticipation of a peak demand of 8,200MW this summer. This is the first time that the power demand has surpassed the 8,300MW threshold in Delhi.

Director of the Delhi Fire Department, Atul Garg said that due to extreme heat, the fire department received 220 calls about fire in one day. This is the highest number of calls so far, except on the day of Diwali.

Amid extreme heatwave a macaque plays at a fountain on a hot summer day in New Delhi.

In response to the ongoing water crisis amidst the heatwave, the Delhi government has scheduled an urgent meeting on Thursday afternoon. The meeting will be attended by water minister Atishi, health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, the chief secretary, and other senior officials.

At Safdarjung, the city's base station, the mercury shot up to 46.8 degrees C on Wednesday, the highest in 80 years and second highest in records since 1901. It was 6 notches above normal.

An examination of IMD data for May reveals temperature variations of three to four degrees across different weather stations in Delhi. Meteorology experts attribute these differences to the geography and local factors influencing temperatures.