Monsoon hits Orissa

BHUBANESWAR: Ending the long wait, the weather office on Monday announced the onset of south-west monsoon in the State. Showers lashed parts of southern and coastal Orissa marking the beginning of the rainy season, spanning from June to September. The India Meteorological Department said the south-west monsoon advanced into some parts of south coastal districts of Orissa and conditions are favourable for further advancement into remaining parts of the State during the next two to three days.The northern limit of monsoon, according to the Met office, passed through  Porbandar, Veraval, Dahanu, Nashik, Gulbarga, Rentachintala, Kalingapatnam, Puri, Dhubri and Gangtok.The first marks of monsoon moving into the State were left over the southern region with Nabarangpur recording 7 cm rain during the last 12 hours with Koraput receiving 6 cm rain. Other southern Orissa districts like Rayagada,  Gajapati and Ganjam also received intermittent  showers.The coastal Orissa also received first monsoon showers with Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara recording showers since the afternoon hours.   Kakatpur, Keonjhar and Phulbani received 5- cm rain each. The weather office said strong gusty surface wind accompanied by thundershowers occurred over many places. The monsoon could be aided by the likely formation of a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal, the IMD said. The system is likely to be formed in the next one to two days. As a result, over the next couple of days, intensity of rain is likely to increase from moderate to heavy and  thunder showers are likely at most places of South Orissa, many places of North Orissa, the weatherman predicted. Heavy rains are also expected during the next 48 hours. On the contrary, the maximum temperature rose in the western parts. The highest maximum temperature of 42.5 degree Celsius was recorded at Sonepur on Monday.