NEW DELHI: Heat wave conditions singed large parts of central India, Rajasthan and Punjab on Thursday, with parts of Punjab registering temperatures close to 5 degrees Celsius more than normal. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the heat wave to spread to cover the entire northwestern part of the country over the weekend.


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The IMD's categorisation of heat wave conditions placed Vidarbha, western Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in the hot pocket. The Met has predicted mild respite over Friday and Saturday for all areas except Vidarbha and western Rajasthan.


Vidarbha was positively baked. Chandrapur recorded the country's highest maximum temperature of 45.1 degrees C for Thursday.


Even though it couldn't be called a heat wave, maximum temperatures were over 40 degrees C throughout peninsular India barring the coastal regions, large parts of Uttar Pradesh and the entire area covering Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.


However, we are a nation of many parts, and it wasn't all ablaze. The maximum temperature was "markedly below normal(­5.1 degrees C or less) at a few places over Sub-­Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Bihar and near normal over rest of the country," said the IMD report.


"Temperature recoded at 1430 hours of today have risen by 3-5°C at one or two pockets of Jammu & Kashmir and Rayalaseema; by 1-3°C at some parts of East Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha and at one or two pockets of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, East Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Coastal Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka and Kerala," read the IMD report for Thursday.


Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha, Rajasthan were 'very likely' to face heat wave conditions till Sunday, as per the IMD's five-day forecast.


The IMD has also predicted dry thunderstorms for most of the Northeast, West Bengal and the coastal parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.