Ahmedabad continued to reel under a severe heatwave on Friday, with temperatures touching 41.6°C and high humidity making conditions worse. Meanwhile, other parts of Gujarat experienced the opposite extreme – heavy downpours, fierce winds and lightning that claimed one life.

While the city baked without a drop of rain in 24 hours, isolated areas in Rajkot and across Saurashtra saw over three inches of rainfall in just three hours. The humidity in Ahmedabad was 60% in the morning before dropping to 36% by evening.

In Gondal’s Veja village, a farmer tragically died after being struck by lightning while working in his field. The sudden downpours brought down trees, flooded roads, and caused rivers to swell across the region.

In Ahmedabad, light to moderate rain and thunderstorms with strong winds of 50-60 kmph are likely in the coming days. The minimum temperature was 29.4°C, which is 1.5°C above normal, while the maximum stayed 0.3°C below normal.

Scattered showers were also recorded in parts of South and North Gujarat, while Kutch was mostly dry. Day temperatures rose sharply in parts of Saurashtra.

Weather officials report that the northern boundary of the monsoon currently stretches from the Indian Ocean to Northeast India. Conditions are favourable for the monsoon to hit Kerala in two days, likely spreading to more parts of the South Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and the Bay of Bengal region.