BHUBANESWAR: Even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said the southwest monsoon is likely to set over early in Kerala on May 27, its progress to Odisha in time is still not clear.
The monsoon normally arrives in Odisha around June 12. Last year, monsoon had reached the state on June 8, which was earlier than usual. However, the arrival of monsoon has always been tricky. It had reached the state on June 22 in 2023, June 16 in 2022, June 10 in 2021, June 11 in 2020 and on June 21 in 2019.
“Usually, the monsoon reaches Odisha 10 to 12 days after entering Kerala. However, it is too early to predict if the monsoon will arrive the state early, on time or will get delayed,” said director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, Manorama Mohanty.
If any supportive weather system forms over the Bay of Bengal, then it may assist the advancement of monsoon towards the state before its scheduled arrival, she added.
Weather experts said this time, the ocean-atmospheric conditions are in favour of early arrival and on-time advancement of monsoon over the country. Odisha comes under the core monsoon zone and normally receives 1,150 mm rainfall between June and September. Meanwhile, some places in Odisha experienced hot and humid weather on Saturday. The regional met office has forecast heatwave and, hot and humid weather in parts of the state in the next four days.
Heatwave is likely to occur in Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Balangir, Boudh and Sundargarh districts and hot and humid conditions may prevail in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh and three other districts on Sunday.
“Parts of the state will experience heatwave as well as hot and humid weather as warm and dry northwesterly winds continue to blow towards the state,” said Manorama Mohanty. On the day, at least 16 places recorded 40 degree Celsius or more. Sambalpur was the hottest at 42.7 deg C, followed by Hirakud 41.7 deg C. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded 40.2 deg C and 39.4 deg C respectively.