Light showers to break dry spell, but situation grim in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: The long dry spell due to weak monsoon this year may break on Monday-Tuesday with widespread light to moderate in many parts of the state. The rainfall activity will gradually decline after the next three days.
The monsoon arrived two days behind the normal date and has remained weak since then. On Thursday, a brief spell of thundershowers were reported from isolated places including some parts of Lucknow. This occurred because of heatwave-like conditions for the past several days with mercury levels 4-6 degrees above normal, both during the day and night.

Sample this: in Lucknow, the maximum temperature on Thursday was 39.6 degrees Celsius, 5.7 units above normal, and minimum t was 30.4 degrees Celsius, 4.4 notches above normal.
Officials said the coming week is crucial for the state. "The monsoon trough - an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure - is active and at present located south of its normal position. The trough is likely to shift gradually northwards from July 17. "Under its influence, scattered to fairly widespread light to moderate rainfall is likely in UP from Monday or Tuesday for three days," said State Met director JP Gupta.