Bhubaneswar: Denizens may have woken up to the coldest day the State Capital has recorded till date in December, as the temperature on Sunday morning plummeted to 8.2 degree Celsius, which was 0.4 degrees less than Saturday.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the low of 8.2 degree Celsius was seven degrees less than the normal temperature recorded during this time of the year, thanks to the cold wave sweeping the vast swatch of Odisha.
The lowest-ever temperature recorded earlier in Bhubaneswar was 8.6 degree Celsius in 1992.
In the hills, Daringbadi shivered at 3 degree Celsius while the district headquarters of Phulbani registered a low of 4.5 degree Celsius. Television footage showed frost accumulating at places in Daringbari, even as tourist enjoyed the white cover.
The IMD website mentioned nine other places in the State where the temperature remained below 10 degree Celsius. They are Angul (5.6), Balasore (7.8), Bhawanipatna (6.5), Chandbali (9.5), Cuttack (8.2), Jharsuguda and Titlagarh at 7.0, Keonjhar (6.4), Koraput (7.2) and Sambalpur at 7.3.
According to a bulletin issued by the Meteorological Department, the minimum was “markedly below normal over Coastal Odisha and appreciably below normal over Interior Odisha”.
It forecast that cold wave conditions will prevail throughout the State during the next 2-3 days and night temperature is very likely to remain below normal by 3 to 4 degree Celcius.
The maximum and minimum temperature in Bhubaneswar will remain at around 25 degree and 9 degree Celsius during the next 24 hours, it added.