Friday was extremely hot for Delhites, all you could feel was heat and nothing else!

The Capital sizzled on an unusually hot day pn Friday that sent the maximum temperature above 45°C at nine stations in the region, including a scorching 47.4°C at southwest Delhi's Najafgarh, which was the highest in the country, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) that declared a heatwave over Delhi-NCR.

The weather department has now issued an orange alert for the population in this area, predicting temperatures to rise by another degree at most places over the weekend. It asked people to avoid exposure to the sun on these days and step out only if needed.

The city was swept by warm and dry easterly winds reaching to 10 km/hr for most of the day, which, in combination with clear skies and direct sunlight, led to a rapid rise in mercury.

Safdarjung, representative of Delhi's weather, had a maximum of 43.6°C on Friday, which was three degrees above normal and the highest so far for this year. The previous high was 42.5°C, recorded a day earlier.

Eight weather stations in Delhi and one in NCR - Noida (45.2°C) recorded a maximum above 45°C on Friday. After Najafgarh, the highest maximum in NCR was 46.5°C at northwest Delhi's Mungeshpur and 46.2°C at southwest Delhi's Ayanagar.