India, May 21 -- LUCKNOW Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under an intense heatwave on Wednesday, with Banda district recording the highest temperature in the country at 48 degrees Celsius, 4.5 notches above normal, for the fourth consecutive day. A severe heatwave red alert was issued across the state for the next three days, followed by an orange alert for the subsequent period, accompanied by a warning for 'warm nights', said Manish R Ranalkar, director, Lucknow Met office.

Lucknow logged a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius, equalling its warmest day of the season recorded on May 18. The minimum was 28.8 degrees, which was 3.5 degrees above normal.

Out of 27 cities in the country where day temperatures remained above 45 degr...