Parts of Odisha received light rains on Friday under the influence of a well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal which is likely to intensify into a depression in the next 12 hours, the IMD said in the evening. A 'Yellow' warning for heavy rainfall was issued for parts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur till Saturday, it said.
IMD Bhubaneswar Director Manorama Mohanty said, "Wind direction has changed to south-easterly and the winds are carrying a lot of moisture as a result of which there was a forecast of rain... In interior Odisha, light to medium rainfall is expected. Heavy rain is expected in some places."
The IMD also forecast a dip in the night temperature by 2-4 degrees Celsius from December 23. Bhubaneswar has been experiencing cloudy sky and light rain since Thursday, which brought down the day temperature by 9 degrees Celsius at 2 pm, officials said.
Meanwhile, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Deoranjan Kumar Singh wrote to the district collectors, stating fishermen should be advised not to venture into the sea along the coast at the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border on Saturday. He also asked the district collectors of Ganjam, Gajapati, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur to keep administrative machinery ready to deal with any eventuality.