An intense cold wave sweeping Daringbadi of Kandhamal district has led to frost formation in the area as the mercury there dipped below freezing point.
Daringbadi, which is popular as a high-altitude tourist destination in Odisha, saw the mercury sliding to -1 degrees Celsius.
"The minimum temperature, which was recorded at -0.5 degrees yesterday, further dropped to -1 degrees in the 3,000-ft high Daringbadi block of Kandhamal," said Ajeet Kumar Sahu of the Meteorological Observatory at Berhampur University.
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District officials said that people in the Phulbani, Daringbadi, Khajuripada, Raikia, Balliguda, Kotagarh and Tumudibandha areas were staying indoors after sunset due to the biting cold.
"While the temperature was 3 degrees yesterday in the district headquarter of Phulbani, it came down to 2 degrees today," added Sahu.
Kotagarh, Tyumudibandha and Balliguda in the district recorded lows of 3.5, 4.5 and 4 degrees, respectively.
Meanwhile, the bitter cold weather has resulted in a large number of birds dying in the forests while fish died in tanks and ponds in different parts of the densely-forested Kandhamal district.
