New Delhi:
Mercury continued to dip to below normal levels in most parts of north India even in the absence of summer rains, but searing heat wave claimed five more lives in Orissa taking the state's death toll to near hundred.
In the national capital, temperature slipped markedly to settle at 37.5 degree Celsius from Monday's 41 degrees.
Maximum temperature hovered around 40 degree Celsius in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, with hottest Varanasi recording 42.4 degree Celsius. Capital Lucknow and Allahabad settled at 40.8 degrees.
Kota remained the hottest place in Rajasthan at 42.7 degree Celsius followed by Jaipur at a high of 40.6 degrees. Barmer, Dabok and Jodhpur recorded maximum of 40.4, 39 and 38.9 degrees respectively while Ajmer, Churu, Bikaner and Gangangar recorded a maxmum of 38.3, 38, 37.3 and 37 degrees respectively.
Meanwhile in Orissa, five more people died of suspected sunstroke as death toll rose to an alarming 98. Titallagarh and Talcher were the hottest at 42.5 degrees.
In the region of Punjab and Haryana, mercury dipped by about four notches to an unusual 32.6 degrees. Ambala recorded a high of 32.8 degrees, down by five degrees while Hisar had a high of 36 degrees -- three notches below normal.
A few places in both the states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh received light showers.
The weathermen said the sudden dip mercury was caused by western disturbance lying over Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining north Pakistan. An upper air cyclonic circulation is also active over south-west Himachal Pradesh and neighbourhood.
In the tourist-friendly Himachal Pradesh, snowfall in higher reaches and rains in plains caused a further dip in temperature. High reaches like Patalsu peak and Hanuman Tibba were under a 4-6 inch blanket of snow.
While low-lying areas were lashed by heavy rains, capital Shimla recorded 3.3 mm rain.
Mercury further nosedived in Jammu and Kashmir under the impact of intermittent rains that lashed wide parts of the border state for the third consecutive day.
The day's maximum temperature dipped to 14.5 degrees in Srinagar -- 7.5 degrees below normal, forcing residents to return to wardrobe to pick up woolens. In Jammu, the maximum dipped to 33.1 degrees after scaling to 41.4 last week.