Severe cold grips districts, G Udayagiri shivers at 4.4ºC

Bhubaneswar/ Berhampur: Cold-wave conditions gripped various places in the state on the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday, leaving people shivering.G Udayagiri, a hill town in tribal-dominated Kandhamal district, clinched the crown of being the state’s coldest place and the season’s lowest — at 4.4ºC — on Saturday-Sunday intervening night. The hill town had clocked 5.6ºC on Saturday.The minimum temperature at Daringbadi and Phulbani on Sunday was recorded at 7.5ºC and 8ºC, respectively, sources said. The interior parts of the districts, including Bramhanigaon, Kotagarh, Belaghara, Raikia and Phiringia, are also reeling from severe cold.The mercury plummeted to 5.2ºC and 7.6ºC at Angul and Jharsuguda towns on Sunday morning, respectively. The minimum temperature at Jharsuguda marked a deviation of 6 degrees Celsius from normal, the IMD report said. The maximum, though, was a comfortable 30.2ºC.Rourkela at 7.2ºC marked Sunday’s lowest in the plains. Dense fog enveloped Rourkela, Phulbani and Koraput, while it was shallow to moderate at few other places, an official report said.The IMD forecast said there would be no significant change in drop trend in night temperature in the state for the next four-five days. A cold-wave warning was issued for four districts for the next two days.Sanjeev Dwivedi, a scientist of IMD centre, said a change in wind flow pattern amid dry weather supported the drop in minimum temperature in Odisha again. Dwivedi said the night temperature would witness minor fluctuation, 1-2 rise in degree Celsius and fall in the state this week again.An IMD bulletin said night temperature was markedly below normal by about 5-6°C at a few places over the districts of north interior Odisha during the day. It said minimum temperature was also appreciably below normal by about 4°C at a few places over the districts of south coastal and isolated places over north coastal Odisha. Besides it stood below normal by about 2-3°C at many places over districts of south Coastal and at a few places over north Interior Odisha.Sharp fall in night temperature at several rural interior pockets in the state affected people’s lives and forced them to remain indoors till late morning hours.