BHUBANESWAR: As it reels under unforgiving weather conditions, a latest report revealed that Odisha emerged as one among the 10 states with the most compound hot-humid days between 2015 and 2024.
A compound hot-humid day is a weather phenomenon where extreme heat and high atmospheric moisture occur simultaneously. In these states, high heat is increasingly overlapping with sufficient humidity to create stressful conditions.
At present, India’s core heatwave zone (CHZ), including states like Rajasthan, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Telangana and parts of Maharashtra, is witnessing a statistically significant rise in heatwave frequency and duration. Night temperatures are unusually high while minimum temperatures are close to 30 degree Celsius.
Weather experts said heatwave conditions have intensified due to heat-trapping in cities, rising humidity, dry soils and climate change driven warming, with multiple factors now converging to make extreme heat deadlier and more widespread than ever before.
Bhubaneswar has been the clear example. In the capital, mornings have recorded uncomfortably high temperature, with the day exacerbated by relentless heatwave conditions.
On Saturday, the city recorded 30.6 degree C as early as 5.30 am. The humidity level of 88 per cent added to the discomfort of the citizens, giving Bhubaneswar a ‘feel like’ or heat index of 42 degree C during the early hours. By 11.30 am, the state capital turned into a virtual heat chamber by recording 37.2 degree C and 60 per cent humidity, taking the heat index to an unbearable 52 degree C. The city experienced a further spike in daytime temperature and recorded 39.3 degree C, above normal by 1.6 degree C.
The heat index, known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.
Odisha is currently experiencing blistering weather conditions, with temperatures consistently breaching the 45 degree C mark in few parts of the state. On the day, heatwave gripped five places while Jharsuguda emerged as the hottest place in the state again at 45.2 degree C. Boudh, Sambalpur, Titilagarh and Hirakud recorded 45 degree C each. The temperature in Sambalpur was above normal by 3.2 degree C.
However, there is no sign of immediate relief as the India Meteorological Department has forecast heatwave, hot and humid weather and warm night conditions till May 27. The meteorologists said the current spell is getting intensified by a combination of persistent dry and hot north-westerly winds and no active weather system.
So far, about 18 suspected sunstroke deaths have been reported in the state. Only three deaths have, so far, been confirmed.