Light rain, cloudy weather in Odisha as deep depression forms in Bay of Bengal

Bhubaneswar: Several areas of Odisha recorded light rainfall on Friday due to the formation of a deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal.

State capital Bhubaneswar, which is gearing up to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day, experienced drizzle this morning with a massive cloud cover associated with the system forming along the coasts.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast light rain in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Gajapati districts till 8.30am on Saturday.

The weather agency said the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal "moved north-northwestward at a speed of 7 kmph during the past six hours" and was centered about 260 km northeast of Trincomalee, 310 km east of Nagapattinam, 360 km east-southeast of Puducherry, and 400 km southeast of Chennai at 5.30am.

"It is very likely to move northwestward and cross the north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram, close to Puducherry, around the morning of November 30 as a deep depression, with wind speeds of 55-65 kmph," the IMD added.

However, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar clarified that the system "will have no direct impact on Odisha but may trigger rains in some parts of the state due to moisture incursion."