Mercury touches 46.4 in Andhra Pradesh's Tuni

VISAKHAPATNAM: Temperature touched the season’s highest of 46.4°Celsius in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. This was recorded in Tuni in the Kakinada district.

The weatherman issued a fresh alert about a ‘severe heatwave’ in parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh as also heat conditions in both coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema districts on Saturday and coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

IMD said the state continued to reel under severe heatwave conditions as the maximum temperatures crossed 43 degrees C in many areas. Palnadu, Bapatla, Krishna, West Godavari, Konaseema and Visakhapatnam districts of coastal AP experienced severe heatwave conditions. Many areas in both coastal and Rayalaseema districts also experienced similar conditions.

“Southwest monsoon arrived in AP on June 11, about a week later than its usual date of onset. It has not progressed much since June 11 and is likely to advance only after June 18. The northern limit of the monsoon continues to be Ratnagiri, Koppal, Puttaparthi and Shriharikota.

Tuni’s highest temperature was followed by Jangamaheswara Puram in Palnadu district (44.6°C), Bapatla (44.4°C), Visakhapatnam (44.4°C), Kakinada (43.9°C),  Kalingapatnam (43.9°C),  Kavali (43.9°C), Narsapur (43.5°C), Ongole (43.4°C) and Machilipatnam (43.2°C). The remaining areas recorded temperatures between 37 and 42°C on Friday.

IMD said people in parts of the coastal and Rayalaseema districts may get some relief from the hot and humid weather conditions from June 18 as the southwest monsoon will cover more areas in the state.

Normal life was thrown out of gear in parts of AP due to the soaring temperatures. Even hawkers were off the roads.