Bhubaneswar: Odisha clocked the highest temperature of the season for the second consecutive day as the sweltering heat drove the mercury to 40 degrees Celsius or above in at least 19 places on Wednesday, the MeT office said.
However, scattered rainfall may bring some respite to people during the next couple of days, following which hot weather conditions will again continue to prevail.
The maximum temperature shot up to 43 degrees Celsius or more in six weather stations, including Sonepur town in western Odisha where it was 44.5 degrees Celsius, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said.
Bolangir boiled in the scorching sun as the temperature climbed to 44 degrees Celsius in the district headquarters and 43 in Titlagarh. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack registered maximum temperatures of 37.1 and 37 degrees Celsius respectively, a bulletin said.
Hot weather conditions are likely to prevail for the next 24 hours as the mercury will soar above 40 degrees Celsius at many places in the interior parts and above normal by three-four notches in some areas of the state, it said.
The weatherman advised people to take precautionary measures while going outside between 11 am and 3 pm.
The MeT centre also forecast thunderstorms with gusty wind speed of 40-50 kmph at some places on Thursday.
There can be thunderstorms and scattered rain in many districts till Friday due to strong southwesterly winds from Bay of Bengal to the northeastern states, it said.
The maximum temperature will fall by 2-3 degrees Celsius over the subsequent couple of days, following which it will gradually rise again from Sunday, according to the department.
PTI