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Bhubaneswar, April 25: The city today got some relief from the searing heat with a drizzle in the afternoon.
The local Met office has termed the rise in temperature as heatwave-like condition, which remains restricted to the coastal belt of the state. Today’s temperature in Balasore, Chandbali and Bhubaneswar crossed the 40°C mark at 11am.
The city recorded the maximum temperature of 42.7°C today.
Yesterday, Bhubaneswar’s temperature was 42.8°C — the day’s highest in the state. Titilagarh recorded 42.5°C, while both Bhawanipatna and Angul registered 42.7°C.
Weather experts at the local Met centre under the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) predict that the temperature would rise further and it may reach 43°C by May 1.
Director of the regional Met centre Sarat Chandra Sahoo said: “The local sky is clear and likely to remain so in the near future. On the other hand, occasional rainfall in the form of thunder squalls, which were seen after the second week of April last year, are missing this time. This is why the temperature remains high.”
The atmospheric pressure over the Bay of Bengal and the state remains more or less the same, and this is the reason why the wind flow is minimal.
“The wind speed now is around 8kmph, and such low speed cannot bring in enough sea breeze to cool the land,” said Sahoo.
Yesterday’s temperature would have climbed higher. But around 1pm, the sea breeze started blowing and it helped check the temperature. But, the trend this morning hints at a rise in temperature over the next few days.
Subhakanta Swain, engineer with a construction company in the city, said: “Yesterday, the high temperature affected our work. We have instructed the workers to take measures such as keeping water bottles and oral re-hydration salt packets with them.”
Sibaram Patra, a shop owner at BDA Market Complex in Lingaraj Vihar of Pokhariput, said: “I have stopped going to the Unit-I market to purchase my supplies after closing my shop in the afternoon. I am now depending on agents because of the extreme heat.”
