Large parts of northern and central India were in grip of extreme heatwave conditions on Tuesday as temperatures crossed 50 degrees Celsius in Churu in Rajasthan and Sirsa in Haryana even as the national capital sizzled with the mercury settling nine notches above normal for the season.

At least three weather stations in Delhi recorded maximum temperatures of 49 degrees Celsius or more with Mungeshpur and Narela in Delhi clocking 49.9 degrees followed by Najafgarh, also in the national capital, at 49.8 degrees, the weather office said.

This was the highest maximum temperature recorded in the capital this season. However, the Mungeshpur and Narela weather stations came up in 2022 and has records only for the last three years.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said there was no immediate respite from the heatwave conditions at least for the next two days.

The weatherman said that a fresh western disturbance was expected over northwest parts India on Thursday which could bring isolated rainfall over the region on the weekend.

IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had blamed the heatwave conditions over the northwest and central India on the absence of Western Disturbances during the latter half of May.

Western Disturbances are extra-tropical weather systems formed over the Mediterranean Sea and move from the west to the east.

"Today, heatwave to severe heatwave conditions prevailed over most parts of Rajasthan, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, in many parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and in isolated pockets of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh," the IMD said.

It said that heatwave conditions also prevailed in many places over Vidarbha, in some pockets over Jammu and Kashmir and in isolated pockets of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

Churu in Rajasthan was the hottest place in the country with the maximum temperature touching 50.5 degrees Celsius followed by Sirsa-AWS in Haryana (50.3), Mungeshpur and Narela (49.9), Najafgarh (49.8), Sirsa (49.5), Ganganagar in Rajasthan (49.4), Pilani and Phalodi in Rajasthan and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh (49).

Warm night conditions in isolated pockets are very likely to prevail over Uttar Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi over the next few days, the weather office said.

The scorching heat prompted the Haryana government to advance summer vacations in state-run and private schools to Tuesday.

The deadly heatwave is testing power grids and leading to water shortages in parts of the country.

According to the Central Water Commission, water storage in 150 major reservoirs in India dropped to just 24 per cent of their live storage last week, exacerbating water shortages in many states and significantly affecting hydropower generation.

The Maharashtra irrigation department said that the water stock in Jayakwadi dam in the drought-prone Marathwada region stood at a mere 5.19 per cent of its capacity on Monday after recording an evaporation loss of 1.15 MCM (million cubic metres) in a single day due to the heat.

The intense heat has already driven India's power demand to 239.96 gigawatts, the highest so far this season, with air conditioners and coolers in homes and offices running at full capacity.

Experts anticipate that power demand could rise even further and surpass the all-time high of 243.27 GW recorded in September 2023.

Severe heat waves have impacted a large number of people in parts of India for three consecutive years, affecting health, water availability, agriculture, power generation, and other sectors of the economy.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.