Bhubaneswar: IMD on Tuesday forecast chances of light to moderate rainfall at scattered places in the districts for four days from Wednesday under the influence of an easterly trough.Thereafter, light to moderate rainfall might continue at isolated places during Durga Puja, the latest IMD bulletin indicates.Such a forecast was made after a cyclonic circulation over Andaman Sea, merged with the easterly trough, could possibly develop into a low-pressure area over Bay of Bengal. The weathermen said conditions were also favourable for further withdrawal of the south-west monsoon from the remaining parts of the country, including Odisha, in the next two days.Umashankar Das, a scientist from Odisha at IMD, Delhi, said the state would likely witness light to moderate rainfall in several districts under the influence of the trough line.Manorama Mohanty, head of regional IMD centre, added that chances of rainfall would persist at isolated places in some districts only. She said withdrawal of the monsoon from the remaining parts of the state would be expected soon.Former director of regional IMD centre Sarat Chandra Sahu said coastal districts would mostly witness light rain at isolated places for the next two-three days under the influence of the easterly trough.The monsoon, meanwhile, has already withdrawn from parts of the state in two phases.On Wednesday, the forecast said light to moderate rainfall chances would continue at a few places over Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghapur, Cuttack, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha and Nayagarh districts.A few places in the state received light to moderate rainfall in the last 24 hours. Gumma in Gajapati district recorded the highest rainfall of 42 mm during the period, said the IMD rainfall report in the morning. Daringbadi in Kandhamal district followed with 18 mm rainfall.Significantly, the state received 29% excess rainfall, compared to normal during the monsoon period from June to Sept this year.
