Bhubaneswar: The Odisha capital emerged as the hottest place in the state on Friday afternoon, recording a temperature of 38.2 degrees Celsius by 2.30 pm.
This spike heightened discomfort for residents, with hot and humid conditions prevailing in some parts of the state. Besides Bhubaneswar, a few other places – Balasore (37.8 degrees Celsius), Chandbali (37.4 degrees Celsius), Sambalpur (6.4 degrees Celsius) – recorded high mercury levels by afternoon.
This came amid the India Meteorological Department’s forecast on early onset of southwest monsoon, which is likely to hit Kerala by May 26 with a model error of ± 4days.
Though Odisha has been experiencing a gradual rise in the day temperature, with mercury soaring past 40 degree Celsius at some places in western and interior districts for the past couple of day, there has been no heatwave warning for the state so far. Instead the weather agency had warned of thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty surface wind (50-60 kmph) very likely to occur in the afternoon/evening hours at one or two places in the districts of Keonjhar, Angul and Dhenkanal on May 15.
Similar weather conditions with wind speed of 40-50 kmph was also expected in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur,
Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada, Balangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Sambalpur and Mayurbhanj.
There was also a warning for thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty surface wind (30-40 kmph) at one or two places in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
Light to moderate rain or thunderstorm was also likely at a few places in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and at one or two places in Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada, Balangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Nabarangpur.
