No let up in biting cold; Bhubaneswar shivers at 9.5 degrees

Bhubaneswar: Mercury continued to plummet further across the State with the temperature settling at 9.5 degree Celsius in the capital city on Friday.

While Daringbadi, also known as Odisha’s Kashmir remained the coldest place in Odisha at 6 degree Celsius, the tourist town witnessed heavy frost for the first time during winter this year.

“It was extremely cold last night. The ground was covered with snow in the morning. I cannot feel anything on my hands due to the biting cold,” said a resident of Daringbadi, Sanatan Pradhan.

According to reports, several stations across the State recorded temperatures below 10 degree Celsius.

While Angul recorded 6.6 degree Celsius, Keonjhar shivered at 6.9 degrees, Phulbani and Sundergarh at 7 degrees and Sambalpur recorded 8.1 degree Celsius.

Similarly, Balasore and Baripada both recorded 8.5 degree Celsius and the mercury stayed at 9.4 degree Celsius in Cuttack.

While dense fog was witnessed in several places of the State, R Udayagiri, Chatrapur, Berhampur and Gopalpur in southern parts of Odisha experienced moderate rainfall, reports said.

Earlier, the Meteorological department had predicted that under the impact of westerly wind over southern and coastal parts of Odisha and northern coastal belts of Andhra Pradesh, the State would witness extreme cold wave condition.

The IMD also forecast that under its influence, the temperature will fall further from today and the cold wave condition will continue till December 31.