NE grapples with scorching summer, rain relief in sight

Guwahati: The sweltering temperature turned life miserable in various parts of northeast, including Guwahati city, even as the mercury crossed the 37°-C mark in several towns and cities in the northeastern region on Thursday.
The IMD’s forecast, however, said some respite from the scorching heat is likely with rain in all seven states in the next 24 hours.It also cautioned that hot and humid weather conditions are likely to prevail over Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura during the period. Heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya during the next 24 hours, IMD said on Thursday.
The mercury was inching closer to 40°C but ended up at 38.1°C in Agartala, showing a departure of 4.5°C above normal. In the northeast, the highest departure above normal (6.3°C) on Thursday was recorded at Tezpur where the maximum temperature was 37.2°C. The Guwahati airport weather station here recorded a maximum temperature of 37.4°C on Thursday, registering a departure of 5.6 degrees above normal. Silchar and Dhubri also witnessed a hot and humid day with maximum temperatures recorded at 37.6°C and 37°C.