Monsoon likely to hit Odisha next week

Bhubaneswar: The southwest monsoon, which hit the Kerala coast today, is likely to hit the Odisha coast next week, the local Met office has said.

Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu, Director, Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar said the cross equatorial flow was gradually strengthening since the last 3-4 days. Besides, an off-shore trough line stretching from Karnataka across Kerala and the wind flow from west direction from lower Arabian Sea made the conditions suitable to drag the southwest monsoon current towards the north.

“Today the monsoon has entered some portions of the Arabian Sea, interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and some parts of Kerala. The condition is favourable for further advance of the monsoon to interior Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and south coastal Andhra Pradesh in the next 48 hours,” Sahu said.

Stating that the southwest wind is also blowing towards Odisha, he said though the temperature in some parts of the state will rise for the next 2-3 days from tomorrow, there is also the possibility of rainfall in the state.

"Considering the weather conditions, there is every possibility that the monsoon will hit the Odisha coast in the next one week,” he added.

A Met release this evening said Hirakud remained the hottest place in the state with 41.3 degrees Celsius. While Malkangiri received the maximum rainfall of 34 mm, Puri and Paradip recorded 24.8 and 24.4 mm of rains respectively.