Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum day temperature of 43.5 degrees Celsius on Friday, making it the second hottest city in the country after Nandyal of Andhra Pradesh.
On Friday, Nandyal recorded 43.7 degree C while Bhubaneswar and Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) recorded 43.5 degree Celsius each.
The Odisha state government has already rescheduled classes for Class 1-10 to morning hours from April 2 due to the rising temperature. The special relief commissioner has instructed the municipal commissioners to open Jalachhatra in conspicuous places of public gathering and take all precautionary measures in view of heat-wave condition.
“Due to prevailing Northwesterly/Westerly dry air and high solar insolation, maximum temperature is likely to be more than 40°C at many places over the state and likely to be above normal by 3 to 5°C over some districts of Odisha till Saturday. Maximum temperature is likely to rise by 2 to 3°C during next 2 days. Minimum temperature is also likely to rise by 3-4°C during next 3 days at many places,” said Uma Shankar Das, senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) office in Bhubaneswar.
“Heat wave condition is very likely to occur over 14 of the 30 districts in the state including Khordha, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, Angul and Bolangirand Balasore. People are advised to take precautionary measures while going outside during the daytime,” Das added.
{{/usCountry}}“Heat wave condition is very likely to occur over 14 of the 30 districts in the state including Khordha, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, Angul and Bolangirand Balasore. People are advised to take precautionary measures while going outside during the daytime,” Das added.
{{/usCountry}}In a study published in the journal Computational Urban Science early this year, the School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar had said almost 60% of the overall warming observed over Bhubaneswar was due to rapid urbanisation.
“In addition to the warming due to climate change, there is additional warming due to the trapping of heat by the concrete and asphalt materials that are used to build the city. The decreased evapotranspiration due to the replacement of natural surfaces with artificial impervious surfaces is also contributing to the observed warming,” the study said.
In 2019, a study conducted by the Climate Impact Lab in collaboration with the Tata Centre for Development at the University of Chicago predicted that the number of extremely hot days in Odisha would increase by 30 times from 2010 to 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at current rates till the end of the century.
The study, the first in a series of findings estimating the human and economic costs of climate change and weather shocks in India, predicted that Odisha is likely to see a 3.32°C rise in average summer temperature from 28.87°C in 2010 to 32.19°C by 2100.
Another study on changing trends of temperature in Bhubaneswar by Binodini Majhi and Krishna Chandra Rath in 2018 found that mean of monthly maximum temperature in Bhubaneswar between 1970 and 2015 increased at a faster rate than the average temperature and minimum temperature. The analysis found that monthly mean temperature has positively increased for all months in 45 years. The highest increase in temperature occurred in March.