New Delhi, April 12 (IANS) A soaring mercury has heralded the approach of a dry, stifling summer in the capital with increasing power blackouts and growing sale of juices and cold drinks to offset the heat.

Residents had a tough time Thursday as the city recorded the maximum temperature of the season so far at 38.4 degrees Celsius.

"It's normal summer temperature. The national capital would experience clear sky and the mercury would increase a couple of degrees further till Saturday evening," said the weather office.

On Thursday, Delhi experienced a maximum of 38.4 degrees (two degrees above normal) and a minimum of 22 degrees Celsius (three degrees above normal). On Wednesday, the city had recorded a maximum of 38.3 degrees Celsius.

Residents feared that the current rise is just an indicator of an impending tough summer.

"It's just the second week of April and the mercury has almost reached 40 degrees. What is going to happen in May?" asked Rajiv Sarkar, a resident.

"With police peeling off the black tinted glasses, it's going to be a tough time for people commuting in cars as well," he said, adding that he has taken three glasses of sugarcane juice to beat the heat.

Rajkumar Tokas, a sugarcane juice vendor in south Delhi, said: "The sale has already gone up by almost 50 percent. Earlier, I used to sell 60 glasses of juice a day but in the last two days I have sold 85 glasses a day".

But what worried residents were frequent blackouts. Even though the summer has just set in, the national capital has started facing a shortage of almost 300 MW of power.

"Though morning hours are not that humid so far yet load shedding during night is becoming very intolerable. We are facing at least one and half hour of power cuts at night," said Gopal Mishra, a resident of Budh Vihar in southwest Delhi.