Bhubaneswar: The regional office of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here has forecast hailstorms and gusty winds in several districts on Friday.
As per the IMD, light rains, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds will impact isolated locations across Odisha during the next two days.
Thunderstorms with lightning and hailstorm with gusty surface wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph is very likely to occur at one or two places in Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts on Friday. Thunderstorm accompanied by lightning is very likely to occur at one or two places over the remaining districts of the state.
Light to moderate rain or thunderstorm is very likely to occur in a few places in south Odisha and at one or two places in north Odisha.
The IMD has issued a yellow warning for hailstorms and gusty winds for Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Dhenkanal, Anugul, Boudh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khurdha, Nayagarh, Puri, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nabarangapur, Bolangir, Nuapada, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri districts on Friday.
A yellow warning has also been issued for Boudh, Bolangir, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nabarangapur, Sonepur, Nuapada, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh districts for Saturday.
These unstable conditions will be triggered by a cyclonic circulation over northeast Bangladesh and a trough that stretches from this system to north Odisha. The incoming moisture from the Bay of Bengal will also aid the convective activity while causing a spike in daytime temperatures.
Accordingly, the IMD has predicted a gradual rise of 2-4⁰C in maximum temperatures during the next two days, with no significant change expected thereafter.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of March, Odisha has received significantly above-average pre-monsoon rainfall. Between March 1 and April 5, the state recorded precipitation worth 81.9 mm –a whopping 224% ‘large excess’ compared to its long-term average for this period, which is 25.3 mm.
