Large parts of northern and central India remained in the grip of a sweltering heat wave on Wednesday with the maximum temperature in the national capital soaring to a 79-year high.

"It looks abnormal and it is an outlier when compared with other weather stations in the national capital region," IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said in a statement.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that on Wednesday, cities and towns in Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh had maximum temperatures over 47 degrees Celsius. Rohtak and Prayagraj registered the highest temperatures ever recorded in the nation, at 48.8 degrees.

Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju also directed the IMD to verify the weather station in Mungeshpur for possible errors as the maximum temperatures had witnessed a slight decline on Wednesday from the 49.9 degrees recorded at three weather stations in the national capital.

The weather office has said the heat wave conditions were likely to abate over the next couple of days due to a western disturbance, rainfall, thunderstorms and moist south-westerly winds blowing from the Arabian Sea to northwest India.

While Delhi's primary weather station Safdarjung observatory recorded a maximum of 46.8 degrees Celsius, the weather officials in the city were left baffled when Mungeshpur reported 52.9 degrees prompting the IMD to examine the automatic weather station in the locality for possible errors in its sensors.