New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) While monsoon is still far from the national capital, there are prospects of pre-monsoon showers Thursday which may give Delhiites relief from the prevailing sweltering heat, the weatherman said Wednesday.

B.P. Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department, said: ‘Pre-monsoon showers may start from Thursday.’

The IMD official, however, said the exact date for monsoon’s arrival is yet to be ascertained. According to IMD, monsoon may be slightly delayed.

‘Monsoon may not arrive on June 29, but it will not be too much delayed,’ an official said.

Delhi has been sizzling under high temperatures with power cuts and erratic water supply adding to the woes of the common man.

‘Frequent power cuts, specially during the night, are a big problem. We can not even sleep,’ said Vidhu Prabha, a resident of Preet Vihar in East Delhi.

According to the Met office, Delhi recorded a maximum of 43.6 degree Celsius Wednesday which was five notches above average.

The minimum temperature was also five notches above average at 33.7 degree Celsius.

June has been dry with the national capital recording 28.6 mm less rainfall than average for the month so far.

‘The total rain in Delhi in June has been 1.7 mm against the average of 30.3 mm average for this month,’ an IMD official told IANS.

For Thursday, however, weatherman has predicted some rainfall.

‘The sky will be partly clouded and rain or thunder could occur in some parts of the capital,’ the official said.

The maximum temperature has been forecast to be around 43 degrees Celsius and minimum at 33 degrees Celsius.