New Delhi, Mar 18 (IANS): The severe heat wave in some parts and the heat wave in many other pockets of the country continued for the fifth day on Thursday with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting it to continue for the next 48 hours before receding thereafter.

The highest temperature across India was reported at Nalgonda in Telangana at 43.5-degree Celsius.

Severe heat wave conditions were observed at most parts over West Rajasthan, in many pockets over Himachal Pradesh and in some pockets in Jammu division, while heat wave conditions prevailed over many pockets of Saurashtra-Kutch, Vidarbha and in some places over parts of Gujarat and West Madhya Pradesh, the IMD said.

Maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1-degree Celsius or more) at most places over Jammu & Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan; at many places over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya; and at a few places over Saurashtra-Kutch.

The maximum temperatures were above normal (3.1 to 5-degrees Celsius) at most places over Gujarat and Marathwada in Maharashtra; at many places over sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Uttarakhand, East Madhya Pradesh, central region in Maharashtra, Telangana; at a few places over Gangetic West Bengal, Western Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh & Yaman, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and at isolated places over Konkan-Goa, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the IMD said.

"There is no significant change in maximum temperature over most parts of North-West, Central, West, and South Peninsular India in the next 48 hours, while it will fall by 2-3-degree Celsius thereafter," the IMD forecast said.