Southwest monsoon arrives in Odisha

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: Long wait for monsoon is finally over in Odisha and the heat wave has ended.After playing hide and seek for about a week, the southwest monsoon finally set in over several districts on Friday.Monsoon has covered districts of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and also some portions of the adjoining districts of Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Khorda, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Gajapati, according to the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar.The conditions are favourable for rainfall and further advance of the monsoon into remaining parts of the State during next two days.Usually monsoon arrives over Odisha coast by June 10 every year, but it has hit after a week’s delay.The department said heavy rainfall was likely to occur at one or two places over northern, southern and coastal districts of the state in next 24 hours.Heavy rainfall was likely to occur at one or two places over interior Odisha by Saturday.Meanwhile, maximum day temperature was recorded less than 40 degrees Celsius in all parts of Odisha on Friday barring Balangir.Balangir was the only place in entire Odisha that recorded 40 degrees Celsius signalling an end to the heat wave that persisted in the State, particularly western Odisha for the past several weeks.