It’s February and Bhubaneswar has turned a burning cauldron

Bhubaneswar: With winter departing earlier than usual, Odisha’s capital city Bhubaneswar has turned into a burning cauldron.

The Temple City, once known for its pleasant weather, has breached the 40 degrees Celsius mark with it recording 40.04.

The city, for the first time in the recent memory, topped the chart of being the hottest station in the country yesterday.

As per the Regional Meteorological Office, the day temperature is slated to increase in the next few days and breach the 40 mark.

Alarmingly, 17 other stations in the state recorded temperature above 35 degrees Celsius.

These places – Balasore (37.6), Chandbali (37.2), Cuttack (37.2), Angul (38.1), Baripada (38.6), Jharsuguda (37.0), Sambalpur (37.1), Sundargarh (36.0), Hirakud (36.3), Talcher (37.4), Bhawanipatna (37.5), Bolangir (38.0), Titlagarh (37.2), Malkangiri (35.5), Sonepur (37.2), and Nayagarh (38.0) – recorded maximum temperature above 35 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the regional weather office cautioned that the maximum day temperature will likely be above normal by 3-4 degrees Celsius during the next 4-5 days. Besides, there will be no change in the night temperature in the next 4-5 days.

Today, people were seen mostly indoors due to the rising mercury. The other reason being the Bharat Bandh called by the CAIT in protest against the rising fuel prices and GST laws.