With Norwestor giving a ditch to the State so far this season, there seems to be no respite from the blistering sun yet. If the weather office sources are to be believed, any possibility of relief from the prevailing climate is remote till May 6 since there is no sign of any system triggering the summer rain which may help bring down the mercury.
Around this time last year, many parts of the State had reported regular thundershower activity with rainfall measuring in the range of 22 to 40 mm. The rain had arrested the rising trend of temperature as the mercury moved between 34 degree Celsius and 37 degree Celsius across most meteorological stations of the State.
The State has not witnessed the trend this year though.
“What we are experiencing is extremely localised rainfall, measuring about 5 to 7 mm in isolated places. Such less-than-moderate showers cannot break the heat cycle unless the rainfall is above 30 mm. That is the reason most stations are reporting day temperature above 40 degree Celsius,” said Director Sarat Chandra Sahu of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Odisha.
Low humidity at the upper atmospheric levels and absence of strong sea breeze, the weather office says, are responsible for non-formation of Norwestor systems this summer. Since there is very little moisture flow from the sea, the troughlines which have been formed are weak in nature and occurring either over western or coastal Odisha. It is for this reason that these two pockets are witnessing cloudy conditions with an occasional drop in temperature by one to two degree Celsius whereas interior districts continue to sizzle.
With no change in the conditions, most parts will continue to experience heat wave. On Monday too, 16 stations reported above 40 degree C temperature with Talcher recording 43.8 degree C. The gruelling conditions took its toll on people as six more sunstroke deaths were reported from the State taking the unconfirmed casualty figure to 20. Three deaths have been reported from the coastal Jagatsinghpur district while reports of two deaths each have been received from Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj districts.
The two confirmed sunstroke deaths have been reported from Cuttack and Mayurbhanj districts.