BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha is set to witness the first cold wave spell of this season, mercury levels plummeted sharply across the state with the capital city recording 14.8 degrees Celsius in the last 24 hours. G Udaygiri recorded the state’s lowest minimum temperature of 8.4 deg C.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Bhubaneswar’s temperature dropped by 2.6 degree in a day. The minimum temperature recorded early on Monday was also a significant 5.8 deg C below normal. The state capital had recorded 17.4 deg C on Sunday, which was below normal by 3.2 deg C.
In fact, many parts of the state including Bhubaneswar have witnessed a sharp decrease in the minimum temperature since the last one week. On November 4, the capital city’s temperature stood at 20.8 deg C and since then it has witnessed a fall of 6 deg C. Similarly, neighbouring Cuttack’s minimum temperature was 20.2 deg C on November 4 and it dropped to 16 deg C on Monday.
The IMD has forecast a further dip in night temperature by 2 deg C to 3 deg C and the first cold wave spell in the state on Tuesday and Wednesday. Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Manorama Mohanty said, “Cold wave condition is likely to prevail in Khurda, Cuttack, Angul, Jharsuguda, Kandhamal and Sundargarh districts on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the strong flow of northwesterly winds towards Odisha.”
A cold wave is declared in plains when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 deg C and is below normal by 4.5 deg C. In coastal regions, cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature is 15 deg C or less and below normal by 4.5 deg C.
While Odisha is all set to witness the season’s first cold wave spell, weather experts said the state has witnessed much colder days in the month of November. “Phulbani had recorded the all-time lowest minimum temperature of 1.2 deg C on November 2, 1980, followed by Balangir at 3.9 deg C on November 28, 1993,” said an IMD official.
Bhubaneswar’s all-time lowest minimum temperature this month since 1952 was 9.7 deg C recorded on November 30, 1970, followed by 10.9 deg C on November 26, 1968.