Odisha capital boils at 44.1°C, breaks six-year record

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 10:

The Odisha capital today broke the six-year record as the Temple city recorded 44.1 degree Celsius, the highest temperature recorded in April.

Odisha continued to reel under intense heat wave conditions with 16 stations recording over 40°C.

After a marginal dip in mercury, the temperature in the capital city today again shot up regaining the top slot in the state.

Notably, Bhubaneswar breached the six-year-old record as it recorded 44.1°C as against 44.1°C recorded in 2010 around this time.

With maximum towns in the state hovering around 40°C, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here has issued a release saying there was no need to panic about heat wave conditions prevailing over different parts of Odisha as similar type of higher temperature was experienced during the month of April in the recent past.

“Temperature is 5-6 degrees above normal in the coastal regions in the state due to dry soil condition owing to deficient rainfall this monsoon. The conditions are almost similar in central India too. The model indicates that the mercury would continue to be above 40°C at various locations. Today’s morning data showed that the upper atmospheric humidity percentage is less than 50% which isn’t conducive to trigger rainfall,” Regional Meteorological Office, Director Sarat Chandra Sahu said.

Meanwhile, three fresh cases of alleged heat wave deaths were reported today taking the toll to 16.

The temperature in coastal districts is on an increasing trend due to absence of sea breeze. The Westerly wind flowing through central India towards Odisha coast is also making the matter worse. Similar trend may continue for a period of one week or more because probability of occurrence of thunder squall activity for next one week is very low. The Westerly wind will also continue to flow, IMD said.

The other cities which surpassed 40°C level today are Phulbani (40°C), Keonjhar (41.1°C), Cuttack (42°C), Malkangiri (42°C), Sundargarh(42°C), Sambalpur (42.2°C), Baripada (42.2°C), Chandbali (42.3°C), Titlagarh (42.5°C), Angul (42.7°C), Hirakud (42.7°C), Bhawanipatna (42.8°C), Bolangir (43°C), Jharsuguda (43.1°C) and Talcher (43.6°C).

Weather data of Dhenkanal and Sonepur which recorded 41.2°C and 42.8°C respectively yesterday were not received today.