BALASORE: The residents of Balasore town experienced this season’s coldest day today with the mercury hovering around 13 degree Celsius, at least three degrees below the normal. The city temperature dipped suddenly by 14 degrees within 12 hours, a record in five years, said the Met officials.
On Sunday the highest temperature was recorded 27.6 degree Celsius.On Monday morning it plummeted to 13.7 degree Celsius. ''A north-westerly wind has already started blowing and we are expecting the temperature to fall further in the next couple of days,'' said a local Met official.
Even as the day saw mercury plummeted to its lowest in November, Met officials said low temperature was unusual for this time of the year.
“People generally experience cold since November first. But this year till mid November the temperature was hovering over 35 degree, which is usually recorded during summer,” the official indicated.
Official sources said, after months of high temperature and humidity, the denizens experienced cold due to last week’s incessant rains triggered by a low pressure. “Till Friday high temperature coupled with humidity had made life miserable but thanks to the rains, the temperature dropped down,” said District Emergency Officer Basanta Mallick.
He said, the district recorded a total of 376 mm rainfall in two days last week. “On November 18 there was 354 mm rainfall in the district and next day it recorded 22 mm,” he informed. The difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures during day time was unusually high due to the absence of Western disturbances till now, he informed.
Environment experts however see a sharp change in the winter pattern of the state over the last five years.
They felt in the recent past the duration of winter chill has reduced while there has been a noticeable rise in temperature. “The effects of global warming have certain bearing on the local climate with the city earlier recording minimum winter temperature around 10 degree Celsius which has now been replaced to 12 to 14 degree,” pointed out Nityananda Senapati, an activist.
In 2008, the lowest was 9.5 degree Celsius recorded on January 31 while in 2007, it was 9.6 degrees on December 18. The record for 2006 was 10.4 degrees on January 26 and in 2005 the lowest temperature was 11.2 on February 3.
The chill factor has left Balasorians scrambling for their woollens, more so because the first half of November had been warm and sultry.
“It was really cold on Sunday and Monday. We had not expected the temperature would dip to such low level,” said Bikash Pati, a local resident.
