Bhubaneswar: Heatwave conditions are likely to cast a shadow on the three-day annual Raja festivities beginning Friday.
Raja festival marks the end of summer and the onset of the rainy season. However, the regional weather office in Bhubaneswar has predicted that sultry weather would continue for some more days including the Pahili Raja on June 14.
Going by the latest prediction made by IMD, western and coastal Odisha districts will experience humid weather conditions during the festival which lasts for three days.
As per IMD predictions, heatwave conditions are likely to prevail at one or two places over the districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Bolangir, Boudh and Nuapada between June 12 and June 15.
Similarly, the weather department has issued a yellow warning for heatwave conditions to coastal districts including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri and Ganjam districts during the period.
Thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface windspeed reaching 30-40 kmph are likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput and Rayagada, informed the regional weather office.
Regarding the onset of the monsoon, the director of IMD Bhubaneswar Manorama Mohanty, meanwhile, informed that the progress of the southwest monsoon has slowed down. There is no further monsoon advanced in other parts of Odisha in the next five days.
“The conditions due to south-westerly winds are not favourable for the further progress of the monsoon in the state. That’s why some parts of Odisha will experience heatwave conditions. Coastal districts of the state will experience excess humidity level,” said Mohanty.
