Nor’wester plunges mercury; 11 districts on rain alert in Odisha

Met officials said heavy to very heavy rainfall alert has also been issued to 11 districts till March 21 morning as the thundershower activity is expected to continue for one more day.

Representative Image Photo | A Sanesh, EPS

BHUBANESWAR: Inducing a significant drop in mercury, the Nor’wester thundershowers that continued over the last two days across Odisha, brought down the maximum temperature below 30 degree Celsius at many places.

Met officials said heavy to very heavy rainfall alert has also been issued to 11 districts till March 21 morning as the thundershower activity is expected to continue for one more day.

As per the IMD report, maximum day temperature of 33 degree Celsius was recorded in Koraput while 28 stations recorded temperatures below 30 degree C.

On the other hand, many places witnessed summer thundershower and heavy rainfall for the second day in a row. Daringbadi recorded the highest rainfall of 26 mm, while Chandbali recorded 9.2 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on the day. Capital Bhubaneswar also received rainfall of over 7 mm in this period. Jajpur, on the other hand, recorded the highest rainfall of over 66 mm during the last 36 hours.

Met officials said the interaction of middle tropospheric westerly trough with lower level moisture-laden winds from Bay of Bengal created favourable meteorological condition for thundershower activities in the state and it is expected to continue for another 24 hours.

Accordingly, heavy thundershower and rainfall alert has been issued to 11 districts including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri. Around 7 cm to 11 cm rain is expected in parts of Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Nayagarh, scientists of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said.

People have been advised to keep a watch on the weather and take precautionary measures against lightning. They have also been urged to follow traffic advisory. Farmers, on the other hand, have been advised to use hail nets to protect crop and vegetables from hailstorm.

Met scientist Umasankar Das said following the Nor’wester activities, the temperature is likely to rise again by 2 to 6 degree Celsius from March 21 onwards.