Nor’wester In North, South, Coastal Odisha Till Apr 13, Says Met

Bhubaneswar: While there has been a drastic fall in temperature mostly in the coastal, south and north Odisha districts due to nor’wester with reports of extensive damage to properties in Balasore and Jajpur districts, the Met office has predicted that there will be no change in the weather condition as the nor’wester would continue in these pockets in the state till April 13.

Talking to the media, Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu, Director, Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, said the nor’wester will mostly occur in the coastal districts of Jajpur, Bhadrak and the north Odisha districts in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj. Besides, it will also occur in the southern districts of Gajapati, Rayagada and Koraput.

Explaining the causes of the nor’wester in Odisha, he said at present, the wind is flowing at a lower level in the south-south-west direction in the coastal Odisha with a velocity of 30-35 kmph carrying excess water vapour. On the other hand, hot and dry wind is blowing at a higher level across interior Odisha from north-north-west direction. “The combination of hot and dry wind with relatively cool wind with excess water vapour is conducive to the formation of the nor’wester,” he pointed out.

Sahu further said usually nor‘wester takes places for a maximum of two days. But due to the formation of a cyclonic circulation over the neighbouring Jharkhand, the duration of the nor’wester in Odisha would be prolonged till next week up to April 13 while its intensity would rise after April 6.

He also said during the period, the nor’wester is most likely to hit one or two places in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Japur and Angul districts with wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph.

However, the duration of the wind speed would be for a maximum of 10-15 minutes, he added.