Most parts of the State sizzled under gruelling heat on Friday with the mercury crossing the 42-degree Celsius mark at 12 places with Titilagarh and Bhawanipatna recording the highest temperature of 43 degree each.
Bhubaneswar and Angul came close second with 42.7 degree each. The temperature went past the 40 degree mark at 19 places including Baleswar (41.5), Chandbali (42.1), Cuttack (40.5),Baripada (42), Jharsuguda (41.8), Keonjhar (40), Sambalpur (42.5), Sundargarh (40.5), Hirakud (42.3), Talcher (42.5), Balangir (42.2), Phulbani (40), Malkangiri (42), Sonepur (41.2) and Dhenkanal (42.2).The Met office here predicted that the heat wave would continue for at least a week, i.e., till May 2.