Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued orange and yellow warnings for several districts of Odisha, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, heavy rainfall and gusty surface winds over the next few days. The weather office also warned of hot and humid conditions in coastal districts and rough sea conditions along the north Odisha coast.
According to the midday weather bulletin issued by the IMD’s Meteorological Centre here, thunderstorm activity with wind speeds reaching 60-70 kmph, gusting up to 80 kmph, along with heavy rainfall, is very likely at one or two places in Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts on Friday afternoon and evening under an orange alert.
The IMD also issued orange warnings for Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts for Saturday, forecasting thunderstorms with lightning, gusty winds reaching 60-70 kmph and heavy rainfall.
Yellow warnings for thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds ranging between 40 kmph and 60 kmph have been issued for several other districts, including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghapur, Cuttack, Bargarh, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Koraput, Ganjam, Puri and Khurda over the next few days.
The weather office said hot and humid conditions are also likely to prevail at isolated places in coastal districts such as Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghapur, Cuttack, Ganjam, Puri and Khurda.
The IMD said light to moderate rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at several places across south interior Odisha and at isolated places in coastal and north interior regions during the forecast period.
The bulletin stated that conditions are favourable for further advance of the southwest monsoon into more parts of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and northeast India during the next two to three days.
The weather office cautioned that strong winds may damage standing crops, banana plantations, kutcha houses and vulnerable structures, while loose objects may get blown away. People have been advised to stay indoors during thunderstorms, avoid taking shelter under trees and keep away from electric conductors and water bodies.
The IMD said maximum temperatures are likely to fall by 2-4 degrees Celsius over the next three days. However, temperatures between 42 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius are expected to continue in Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Nuapada and Bargarh districts during the next two days.
In its fishermen warning, the IMD advised fishermen not to venture into the sea along and off the north Odisha coast on Friday due to squally weather with wind speeds reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph and rough to very rough sea conditions.
