Bhubaneswar, Dec 18 (IANS): Cold wave conditions continued to grip several places of Odisha with the mercury dipping below 12 degrees Celsius at 12 places during the past 24 hours, IMD said on Saturday.

According to the morning bulletin of Bhubaneswar Centre of IMD, the lowest minimum temperature of 7 degrees was recorded at Phulbani town, while Daringbadi and Koraput recorded a minimum temperature of 7.5 degrees Celsius each.

Similarly, the minimum temperature at Sundergarh was 9.5 degrees and it was 9.8 degrees at Titlagarh, 10 degrees at Bhawanipatna, 10.5 degrees at Sonepur. Keonjhar, Bolangir and Angul towns recorded a minimum temperature of 11 degrees each.

The night temperature at Malkangiri and Chandbali was 11.5 and 11.6 degrees, respectively, the Met Centre said. All places of the state witnessed a minimum temperature of below 20 degrees.

The Met office further said the minimum temperature will drop by 3-4 degrees over the districts of Odisha during next four-five days. Due to the sudden chill, normal life was affected in interior pockets of the state.

The situation is expected to aggravate and continue for a week, said director of Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of SOA University, S.C. Sahu.

Between December 19 and 24, the winter chill is set to worsen due to a combination of the north-westerly wind flow in the lower and upper atmosphere along with clear sky conditions for radiational cooling from the surface of the earth, he said.

The cold condition might decrease slightly due to change in wind direction and western disturbance in the north-west part of India from the Christmas day, he added.