Lucknow/Prayagraj/Varanasi, March 11 -- A thick layer of haze (shallow fog) descended over many cities of Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Meerut and Agra on Tuesday morning that all but cut out the sun. Due to the haze, visibility dropped significantly at many places. In Prayagraj, it dropped to 30 m, Meerut 100 m, Varanasi airport 500 m, the weatherman said. A similar condition occurred in 2008 too. "Due to the abundance of moisture carried by humid Easterly Winds, conditions of haze and mist gripped the state during the day," said Manish R Ranlakar, director, Lucknow Met office here, on Tuesday. He said that the haze will continue for the next two days. "Temperatures are expected to remain largely unchanged over the next 4 to 5 days; consequently, the weather will remain extremely hot, though light rainfall is anticipated starting March 15," the weatherman said. Influenced by atmospheric stability over western and adjoining central India, temperatures across the region are running significantly above normal. Hazy conditions prevailed on the outskirts of Varanasi, Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Ghazipur too. Since Tuesday morning, the weather has been hot and sultry. BHU geophysics and meteorologist Prof. Manoj Kumar Srivastava said, "Westerly Winds and moisture in the air in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar sharing boundaries with the UP together created the hazy conditions in almost the entire eastern UP, and its districts including Pilibhit, Lakhimpur-Khiri and Behraich in the Terai region."...