Odisha’s Jharsuguda scorches at 44.6 degrees Celsius, hottest in India

Odisha’s Jharsuguda recorded the country’s highest temperature at 44.6°C, according to the IMD. Twenty-five other towns crossed the 40°C mark, with several districts including Sambalpur, Angul, and Titlagarh experiencing severe heat. Bhubaneswar touched 41.2°C for the first time this summer.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s industrial town of Jharsuguda on Wednesday emerged as the hottest place in the country with mercury level reaching 44.6 degrees Celsius, IMD said.

Twenty-five other places in the state also recorded maximum temperature at or above 40 degrees Celsius, it said.

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According to the evening bulletin issued by the Meteorological Centre here, four places in the state recorded a temperature above 43 degrees Celsius during the day. Those places are—Talcher (43.5 degrees Celsius), Sambalpur (43.3), Hirakud (43.2), and Angul (43.1).

Angul was followed by Titlagarh at 42.5 degrees Celsius, Dhenkanal (42.4), Bolangir (41.9), Sonepur (41.9), Sundargarh (41.8), Nuapada (41.6), Bhawanipatna (41.5), Nayagarh (41.5), and Rourkela (41.3), as per the bulletin.

At 41.2 degrees Celsius, capital city Bhubaneswar recorded a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time during this summer, officials said.

The other places which recorded a day temperature of 40 degrees Celsius or above are—Chandbali, Baripada, Keonjhar, Phulbani, Boudh, Paralakhemundi, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur, the IMD said.

The weather officer said heatwave conditions are expected to prevail in the districts of Bolangir, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur on Thursday.

Similarly, hot and humid weather is expected to prevail at isolated places over the districts of Bolangir, Sundergarh, Boudh, Sonepur, Sambalpur, Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Gajapati districts on Thursday, it said.

There will be no large change in the day temperature during the next four days over the districts of Odisha; thereafter, it is expected to fall by 2-3 degrees Celsius, the bulletin said.

In view of the prevailing heatwave conditions, the Bhadrak district administration has directed the classes of schools during morning hours from 6.30 am to 9 am, while the Sonepur district collector has extended the holiday for all educational institutes for another two days, till April 25.

The district administration in Dhenkanal announced the closure of all schools from Sishu Vatika to Class-12 from Thursday until further order.