Women cover their faces and use umbrellas to escape the heat on a road in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 24: Hot and humid conditions have returned to haunt city residents with rain playing truant once again, thanks to a weak monsoon. The southwest monsoon hit the state on June 18 but has been less than active.

“It has become impossible to stay indoors without air conditioners. The humidity is making life miserable,” said Ashirbad Mohanty, a resident of Patia.

Weathermen have predicted that the sultry conditions would continue for another week.

While highest day temperature in the city have been hovering around 37°C for past few days, it shot up to 40.2 degrees today raising the discomfort level of the residents. Met officials said that the relative humidity level in Bhubaneswar was between 60 and 70 per cent over the past few days. The discomfort index, which is calculated taking the maximum temperature and the minimum relative humidity, remained over 48 today.

Apart from Bhubaneswar, several other places in the state are also reeling from hot and humid conditions. Five towns today recorded a maximum temperature of more than 40°C. Titilagarh was the hottest place in the state with a maximum temperature of 41 degrees.

The statistics available with the regional meteorological centre show that the state has so far received 55.9mm of monsoon rainfall as compared to the normal rainfall of 156.5mm for this period. Bhubaneswar has experienced 50mm rainfall so far this month. But the average June rainfall for Bhubaneswar is 204.8mm.

Met department sources said though the month of June generally witnesses a healthy rainfall of 10 days, this time it has rained well only for two days.

“Due to the cyclonic storm over Arabian Sea, the monsoon current has weakened, but it is reviving gradually. Rainfall is likely to be normal July 2 onwards. However, light rainfall will continue in several parts of the state,” said director of the local metrological centre, Sarat Chandra Sahu.

He said rainfall in the state so far has been 64 per cent less than normal.