BHUBANESWAR: It is not just the political heat. With the southwest monsoon ditching Kerala, Odisha is all set to face a prolonged dry spell. The weather office on Friday said monsoon is unlikely to hit the State till late second week of June.If it’s progress is normal, the southwest monsoon generally hits Kerala by June 1. But this year, the factors shaping it have not been strong enough. The south-westerly current has been weak, thereby weakening the monsoon flow into the sub-continent.Director, India Meteorological department, Odisha, Sarat Chandra Sahu said the south-westerly flow has begun to revive and it is expected to give the monsoon a new lease of life. Kerala is expected to be hit by the monsoon showers within the next 72 hours.This will also mean that the arrival of the monsoon will be further delayed in the State. Going by the IMD’s calculation, it may take another two weeks to reach Odisha.“We will be able to make a fair prediction once the northern limit of the monsoon covers Kerala and Assam,” Sahu said.This does not augur well for the State which has been reeling under an unrelenting heatwave which, so far, has claimed more than 25 lives.According to the Special Relief Commissioner Control Room, the unofficial death toll has crossed 100, of which 25 deaths have been confirmed due to sunstroke. Mayurbhanj has reported the highest number of deaths __ five __ while Sonepur, Sundargarh and Balasore have recorded three deaths each.The Met office, however, has some good news for the State. Sahu said the heatwave may prevail only till end of this week.The high temperatures may continue in western Odisha districts, but heatwave conditions are expected to relent over the next three days. In fact, the State saw mercury dropping over coastal Odisha, while over the western pockets, it continued to rise.Titlagarh emerged as the hottest town recording the season’s highest temperature of 47 degree Celsius for the second consecutive day, followed by Balangir with 46.5 degree C.While Bhubaneswar, Paradip, Cuttack, Chandbali and Gopalpur saw the mercury dropping by two to three degrees on the day, Sonepur, Hirakud, Sundargrah and Jharsuguda continued to sizzle with a maximum day temperature pegging around 46 degree Celsius.The weather office also predicted thundershowers at some places over the next 48 hours with strong winds.
Comments
0 comment