Bhubaneswar: The mercury touched the highest of the season in Odisha for the third successive day Saturday, breaching 45 degrees Celsius in three towns amid a searing heatwave and fierce humidity that rippled across the state, the Met office said.
However, thunderstorms with lightning and gusty surface winds that can reach 40-50 kmph are expected in many districts across the state over the next four days, the Met said.
The temperature can decrease by around 2-3 degrees Celsius during the subsequent three days.
Twenty-one weather stations saw the maximum temperature crossing 40 degrees Celsius, and the mercury rose by 1-3 degrees Celsius in interior Odisha. People sweltered in the hot weather as the humidity levels were above 75 per cent in many places, it said.
The heatwave scorched Subarnapur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Boudh, Bolangir, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Deogarh and Angul districts, according to the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre.
Bolangir boiled in the scorching sun as the mercury soared to 45 degrees Celsius in the district headquarters and 45.5 in Titilagarh town, the highest in the state.
Nine weather stations recorded 44 degrees Celsius or more, with Boudh town also logging 45 degrees Celsius. The temperature shot up to four notches above average to settle at 44.9 degrees Celsius in Jharsuguda.
The mercury dropped to 37.8 in the capital and 36.8 in Cuttack, the weather office said.
There will be no large change in the maximum temperature in the next 24 hours, but it will be above normal by 3-5 degrees Celsius at many places in the interior parts of the state.
PTI