After a brief respite, northwestern and central parts of the country were back in the grip of a heatwave, with temperatures settling above 45°C across several towns and cities, officials said on Saturday.

Ganganagar in Rajasthan recorded the highest maximum temperature at 47.5°C, followed by Hisar in Haryana and Banda in Uttar Pradesh at 46.8°C each on Saturday.

The weather office said heatwave conditions were likely to prevail for the next two to three days over Rajasthan, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Vidarbha, south Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh.