BHUBANESWAR: After a brief spell of warm weather, the winter chill returned to Odisha with minimum temperature dropping at many places in the interior parts of the State on Friday. Sixteen places in the State recorded less than 15 degree Celsius on the day.Phulbani was the coldest at 6 degree Celsius, Jharsuguda recorded 7.4, Daringbadi 8.5, Sundargarh 9, Balangir 10, Bhawanipatna 10.4, Boudh 10.5, Sonepur 10.6, Titlagarh and Sambalpur 11 degree each, Keonjhar and Angul 11.6 degree each, Hirakud 12.1, Koraput 13, Nayagarh 14 and Talcher 14.6 degree. The Twin City of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar recorded 17 and 19 degree Celsius respectively on Friday.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that minimum temperature is expected to dip by around 2 degree Celsius at many places in coastal districts by Saturday.“The minimum temperature is likely to remain below normal by 3 to 4 degrees at many places in interior districts for the next 2 to 3 days,” said Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Scientist, Umasankar Das.
Das attributed the dip in minimum temperatures to dry and cold northerly and north-westerly winds blowing towards the State. Odisha, IMD, has issued a yellow warning for cold weather conditions at one or two places in Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts between Friday and 8.30 am on Saturday.
The Met office has also forecast shallow to moderate fog at isolated places in the State on Saturday and Sunday morning. Shallow to moderate fog is expected to occur at one or two places in north coastal districts, Khurda, Nayagarh, Koraput, Malkangiri, Kandhamal and Boudh districts during the period.Meanwhile, the minimum temperature is expected to rise gradually by 2 degree Celsius to 3 degree in the interior region after 2 to 3 days.