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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a seven-day weather outlook on Thursday, warning of thunderstorms, lightning, gusty surface winds, and heavy rainfall across Odisha, urging people in vulnerable areas to stay alert as wet weather is expected to continue throughout the state over the next week.
The IMD Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar has issued a Yellow Warning for many districts for the next three days due to thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and strong winds reaching speeds of 30-40 kmph. The warning covers coastal as well as interior districts, including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Khordha, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati and, on the first day, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri. Additional districts such as Angul, Dhenkanal, Boudh and Kandhamal are expected to come under the thunderstorm warning on the third day.
The forecast indicates that rainfall activity is likely to intensify from the fourth day onwards, with light to moderate rain expected at many places across Odisha. Heavy rainfall has been forecast for Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj on August 2-3, shifting to Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Gajapati on August 3-4. The heavy rain warning is expected to extend to Kandhamal and Koraput on August 4-5 before remaining confined to Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Koraput on August 5-6. The IMD has indicated no major change in the overall weather pattern during the subsequent three days.
According to the IMD, the Deep Depression that was over central Chhattisgarh and bordering north interior Odisha has migrated westward into west-central Chhattisgarh and adjacent regions of Vidarbha and southeast Madhya Pradesh. The system is predicted to diminish into a depression during the following 12 hours while moving westward, although good monsoon conditions are expected to maintain widespread rainfall across Odisha.
Light to moderate rainfall fell in several parts of Odisha over the last 24 hours, while heavy to very heavy rainfall was recorded in isolated areas of Bargarh, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, and Nabarangpur. Sinapali and Paikmal had 16 cm of rain apiece, while Khariar and Boden received 15 cm.
The IMD has also recommended fishermen not to go out into the sea along and off the south Odisha coast on Thursday due to squally weather, with wind speeds of 40-50 kmph gusting up to 60 kmph and rough to extremely rough sea conditions. No similar warnings have been issued after July 30.
The IMD has projected a mainly cloudy sky with light rain for Bhubaneswar and its surrounding areas for the next 24 hours, with maximum and minimum temperatures expected to remain around 33 and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.
