Patna: The heatwave continued to irk residents of Patna and Gaya for the second consecutive day on Monday.

While the day temperature in Patna was six notches above normal, Gaya boiled at 42.4 degrees Celsius, which was five degrees above normal.

Heatwave prevails when the maximum temperature remains above 40 degrees Celsius and it is at least 4.5 degrees above the normal. It becomes severe heatwave when the departure is more than seven degrees Celsius above normal.

The daily weather bulletin issued by the Patna office of India Meteorological Department on its summer watch on Monday said the maximum temperature was likely to be more than 40 degrees Celsius and three to five degrees Celsius above normal in southern parts of Bihar on Tuesday.

Attributing the heatwave conditions to the dry westerly wind, an official in the Patna Met office said the condition was likely to remain similar for two more days and after that there were chances of easterly becoming the dominant wind which would bring some relief from the scorching heat.

Parents of schoolchildren of junior classes are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that the weather would show some leniency after two days as the Patna district administration has closed all schools up to Class VIII till June 20 owing to the intense heat.

"We hope that the heatwave would give way to better weather by June 21 when my kids would start going to school after the summer break," said Sudha Singh, a Raja Bazaar resident, whose two sons study in classes V and II.

Though residents are hoping a pleasant weather, the weathermen have nothing to offer which could raise some hope among the residents in this regard.

"Monsoon has become stagnant after reaching Sikkim and parts of Bengal. The rain-bearing wind is expected to take at least five more days to reach Bihar," said an official with the Patna Met office.

The official also pointed out that some parts of northeastern Bihar and also in some other places in the state were likely to witness thunder accompanied by light rain in the coming 24 hours. Light to moderate rainfall occurred at a few places over northeastern parts of Bihar and light rainfall occurred at two places over northcentral parts of Bihar in the past 24 hours.