Several districts in Jharkhand continued to wilt under a heatwave on Wednesday, the weatherman predicting the condition will prevail for another 24 hours before some respite kicks in.

Districts in the north-western parts of the state recorded extreme day temperatures that were four to five notches above normal.

The weatherman said the dominating westerly winds that blocked moisture incursion into the atmosphere had resulted in the Celsius surge.

“The dry westerly winds are pushing up maximum temperatures and will continue to do so for the next one day at least. Heatwave conditions will prevail in several parts of Jharkhand,” said S.D. Kotal, the director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

The Met office director, however, held out some hope.

“A turnaround in the weather is expected from Friday evening when the wind pattern changes to easterly. There may be rain and thundershowers at a few places in Jharkhand,” he said after analysing Wednesday’s chart and radar pictures.

The Ranchi Met centre also issued a nowcast of thunderstorm and light rain at several places in Giridih, Dhanbad and Bokaro on Wednesday |afternoon.

An east-west trough |was extending from Uttar Pradesh to Nagaland over Bihar and this was expected to trigger thundershowers over Jharkhand.

Weathermen at IMD’s Patna Met centre said the trough was existing at 1.5km above mean sea level.

“The trough would impact Jharkhand and gradually the wind pattern would change to easterly from north-westerly after another 48 hours, resulting in the incursion of moisture from Bay of Bengal. This will help trigger thunderstorm and rain, especially in the southern and central parts of Jharkhand after 48 hours,” a duty officer said.

Several districts, including capital Ranchi, continued to fight the harsh sun on Wednesday.

Both Ranchi and Jamshedpur recorded maximum temperature close to 40°C, four notches above normal.

Chaibasa in adjoining West Singhbhum, too, recorded around 40°C, five notches above normal.

Daltonganj topped the Celsius chart with around 45°C for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.

The maximum reading in Palamau headquarters was five notches above normal. Garhwa, Chatra and Simdega also continued to reel under heatwave conditions.

The weather was less oppressive in Pakur and several other places in north-eastern Jharkhand where the Celsius remained below 40°C.