BHUBANESWAR: Nor’wester rain coupled with thunderstorms lashed parts of the state on Tuesday bringing much-needed respite from the sweltering heat that had been affecting normal life across coastal districts for the last three days.
The cloudy weather and rainfall during the evenings in parts of southern and coastal districts including Ganjam, Gajapati, Cuttack and Khurda, apart from lowering the temperature, also provided relief from the humid condition that had risen to an intolerable level for the past few days.
Met officials said day-time temperature on Tuesday breached 40 degree Celsius in at least 18 places across the state with Sambalpur boiling at 44.3 degree Celsius. Meanwhile, Boudh, Balangir and Nuapada recorded 44 degree Celsius and above.
Muggy weather along with frequent power cuts, however, made life miserable for the entire coastal belt including Bhubaneswar as relative humidity remained around 70 in most parts till afternoon.
A trough running from North Bihar to central Chhattisgarh helped bring the nor’westers to the state, the officials said adding, though heat conditions may prevail in parts of central Odisha for the next three days, there will be no heat wave during this period.
“Light to moderate rainfall and thunderstorms may take place in some parts of the state during this period,” an IMD official informed.
Met scientist Uma Shankar Das said as per IMD’s prediction, southwest monsoon is likely to arrive in Kerala from June 4. “The forecast of arrival of southwest monsoon to Odisha, however, is yet to be made,” he added.