India, April 24 -- LUCKNOW With Uttar Pradesh firmly in the grip of an early-summer heatwave, three cities -Prayagraj, Banda, and Agra-recorded their hottest April days in four years on Friday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued localised warnings for soaring temperatures across both western and eastern parts of the state.

In fact, seven UP cities figured on the list of Indian cities where maximum temperatures exceeded 43 degrees Celsius. These were Prayagraj, Varanasi 44.3, Banda and Hamirpur 44.2, Sultanpur 43.8, Aligarh 43.4 and Fursatganj 43.1 degrees.

Prayagraj emerged as the hottest city in the country, recording a blistering maximum temperature of 45.2degC. This edges close to the district's all-time April high of 4...