Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra visits the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which is fast being turned into another mandir-masjid dispute.
A severe cold wave brought the minimum temperature down to a numbing 1.5 degrees Celsius at the Ridge weather station in central Delhi.
In the coming months, globally as well as in India, rice might remain a hot potato.
At the review meeting, chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in New Delhi, the IMD said above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast, east and central India and some parts of northwest India.
The low-pressure area over the South Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a depression by Saturday, the weather office said.
Operations at the Delhi airport remained normal. However, three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow on Tuesday night.
Taps supplying water to households were frozen due to the cold.
Since its formation on June 6 in the southeast Arabian Sea, Biparjoy had maintained a northward track, gathering strength and becoming an extremely severe cyclonic storm on June 11, packing wind speed of more than 160 kmph, and then losing intensity a day later.
Intense monsoon rains brought normal life to a standstill in several parts of eastern and central Rajasthan, flooding out roads, rail tracks, low-lying residential areas and hospitals and claiming seven lives since Sunday night.
Schools and colleges in the city and adjoining districts have been closed as a precautionary measure.
The southwest monsoon is set to make its exit in style, bringing rains to the parched parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as weather forecasters have picked up signs of formation of a cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, India Meteorological Department (IMD) director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on Thursday junked last week's forecast of early withdrawal of southwest monsoon and announced the extended stay of the seasonal showers. "Even though we expected early withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, a cyclonic circulation over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal will shift the monsoon trough southwards around September 7.
The mercury soared to 46.2 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh, making it the hottest place in the capital.
The weather department has forecast widespread snowfall or rains over the next two days also.
Weather scientists attribute the early onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala to the influence of the remnants of cyclone Asani that triggered the cross-equatorial flow, a key factor for the seasonal rains.
The weather system remained practically stationary during the last six hours and weakened to a depression, and is likely to turn into a well-marked low pressure area during the next 12 hours, it said in a bulletin.
Tourism is badly affected. Entire apple orchards have been washed away. 2 million people are threatened with loss of livelihood.
Monsoon normally starts withdrawing beginning September 1 from west Rajasthan.
Shivam Dube carried his rich recent form into domestic circuit cracking a rapid fifty but Shreyas Gopal's four-wicket haul ensured that Mumbai were bowled out for 251
Kharif crops were sown in only 4.15 lakh hectares against the target of 28.27 lakh hectares till July 21 or only in 14.71 per cent of the arable land.
'It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hour and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday and emerge into west central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night,' the India Meteorological Department said in its national bulletin.
Rauf Azhar, born in 1974 in Pakistan, had been sanctioned by the United States in December 2010.
Monsoon normally hits Kerala on June 1 but this year, Met department had predicted that it will hit the state on June 5.
The India meteorological department has issued a yellow alert, warning of a fresh heatwave spell in Delhi which may see temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius by Wednesday.
Rain or thundershowers have also been predicted in south interior Karnataka and at a few places over Coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka.
The government on Saturday imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $800 per tonne on onion exports till December 31 this year with a view to increase availability of the vegetable in the domestic market and contain prices. The decision will come into effect from October 29. Besides, the government has also announced the procurement of additional 2 lakh tonnes of onion for the buffer, over and above the 5 lakh tonnes already procured.
India is likely to experience below-normal monsoon rainfall this year, with a 20 per cent chance of drought due to the end of La Nina conditions and the potential for El Nino to take hold, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said on Monday.
A forest department official blamed the sweltering heat for the death of this cub's three siblings on Tuesday.
It rained in the periphery of Delhi -- Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Karnal in Haryana -- but clouds hovered over the national capital, without giving any relief from the heat.
The IMD has fancy weather-monitoring radars in the name of providing better forecasts.
Above-normal heatwave days are predicted in most parts of central, east and northwest India during this period.
Reliance Jio has sent a second legal opinion to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the subject of the potential allocation of satellite spectrum. The letter is written by retired Supreme Court Justice L Nageshwara Rao and argues in favour of auctions, stating that any other method for allocating spectrum apart from auctions could be constitutionally unsound. Business Standard has reviewed the letter.
The situation could worsen if weather predictions of more rain in the capital and upper catchment areas come true.
The system lay centered at 5.30 am over Southeast Bay of Bengal, about 450 km west-northwest of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 380 km west of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 970 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 1030 km south-southeast of Puri (Odisha).
The request was made soon after the balloon was shot down on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean.
The country can expect normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and a lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere are likely to counter the evolving El Nino conditions, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Tuesday.
Scientists had earlier said the cyclone pulled the moisture and convection, impacting the intensity of the monsoon and delaying its onset over Kerala.
The duo used their mobile phone to establish contact for their rescue, following which an NDRF team was roped in.
Bankura continued to top the maximum temperature chart at 43.7 degrees Celsius, while Panagarh in Paschim Bardhaman district followed closely at 43.5 degrees Celsius, the weather office said.
The metropolis also saw two other incidents of wall collapse amid heavy rains since Friday, injuring five persons.
Several global models are predicting El Nio to appear around the second half of the year, which are the crucial rain-bearing months.
