Odisha cold wave continues with no respite in sight, IMD issues fresh warnings

Intense cold and a sharp drop in temperatures across most of the interior and coastal districts of Odisha will last for at least the next five days, stated an India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast.

Cold wave conditions returned to the state on the night of January 17, following a brief respite owing to western disturbances. Under its impact, the mercury plummeted steeply in several places with Phulbani recording the lowest temperature among cities in Odisha, at 8 degrees Celsius.

Further, on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, G. Udayagiri at 5 degrees Celsius was the coldest place in the state. Similarly, Similiguda (7.6), Jharsuguda (9.7), Angul (10), Rourkela (10.5), Sundaragrh, Bhawanipatna, and Koraput at 11 degrees Celsius, also witnessed a steep temperature drop.

The Regional Centre of the IMD in Bhubaneswar maintained that there will be no significant change in night temperatures over the next four to five days. Additionally, it also predicted dense fog for the next three days.

A yellow alert for dense fog, valid until today, was also issued for the districts of Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, and Koraput. In these districts, visibility may drop to as low as 50 meters while in some areas, conditions of zero visibility may also arise.

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The sudden onset of the cold wave was most noticeable in the twin cities. In one night, temperatures in Bhubaneswar dropped by 3.2 degrees and by 2 degrees Celsius in Cuttack. Additionally, both of these cities are likely to witness minimum temperatures of 13 degrees and 12 degrees Celsius, respectively, until the 24th of January, as per the IMD.