Mercury dips in Odisha, Sonepur coldest at 11.8 C

BHUBANESWAR:  The winter is setting in. Many parts of Odisha saw a dip in mercury as minimum temperature fell after the dry northerly and north-westerly winds headed towards the State. Sonepur was the coldest in the State with night temperature recording 11.8 degree Celsius, which is 2.6 degree below normal, while Angul recorded 12.6 degree, 2 degree below normal. Jharsuguda registered 14.1 degree, and Keonjhar 15 degree, well below normal.

The India Meteorological Department said, at least 10 other places in the State recorded below normal minimum temperature on Saturday. Cuttack recorded 19 degree Celsius and Bhubaneswar 20.6 degree during the period.“Minimum temperature is likely to fall by two to three degrees in coastal Odisha and by one to two degrees in interior parts of the State within next two days,” said Scientist of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Umasankar Das.

The met office has forecast shallow to moderate fog at one or two places in south interior districts on Sunday morning. “Shallow to moderate fog is likely to occur in south interior districts due to availability of the moisture,” said Das. IMD has already forecast colder winter in the country this year due to a weak La Nina phenomenon.

The core cold wave zone will cover Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, extending through Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana.