Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued both orange and yellow weather warnings for Odisha, forecasting thunderstorms with lightning, hail, gusty winds, and heavy rainfall in several districts on April 28.
As per the IMD’s mid-day bulletin, a Western Disturbance persists in the middle tropospheric westerlies, with its axis located around 5.8 km above mean sea level, roughly along 77°E longitude and north of 18°N latitude.
An Orange warning has been issued for Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, and Koraput districts, where thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, wind speeds of 50–60 km/h, hail, and heavy rainfall are expected during the afternoon and evening hours on Monday.
Additionally, a Yellow warning has been sounded for Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada, Balangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, and Malkangiri, where similar weather conditions may occur, though with slightly lower intensity and wind speeds up to 40–50 km/h.
Light to moderate rain or thundershowers are also likely across parts of North Interior Odisha from April 29 to May 5, the department said.
In view of the system, the IMD has predicted a drop in day temperatures by 3–5°C across the state over the next 24 hours. No major temperature fluctuations are expected beyond that.