Odisha's Bay of Bengal coastline is among the most cyclone-exposed stretches anywhere in the world, and the state's response to its catastrophic 1999 super cyclone reshaped how India as a whole prepares for and evacuates ahead of major storms. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Odisha, open VayuMet.
Coastal Odisha is dominated by the Mahanadi delta, a low-lying, densely populated and highly fertile plain directly exposed to the Bay of Bengal. Inland, the Eastern Ghats rise into a hill and plateau region, including the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) plateau in the west and south — historically one of India's poorest and most drought-affected areas.
Winter (December-February) is mild. Summer (March-May) is hot, especially in the western interior around Sambalpur and Bolangir. The southwest monsoon (June-September) is the main rain source, fed by depressions that frequently form in or cross the Bay of Bengal near the Odisha coast. Both the late pre-monsoon (April-May) and post-monsoon (October-November) periods are peak cyclone windows for the coast.
The Odisha coast around Paradip, Bhubaneswar and Balasore has repeatedly experienced major cyclone landfalls; the 1999 Odisha super cyclone remains one of the most significant weather disasters in modern Indian history.
Monsoon depressions forming in or crossing the Bay near the Odisha coast are the state's primary source of heavy monsoon rainfall.
Western Odisha, including the Sambalpur-Bolangir belt, sees some of eastern India's most intense pre-monsoon heat.
Frequencies cited from published IMD/IITM climatology where a source is named inline; day-count figures in the table below are computed directly from the 1951–2025 IMD daily archive.
The table below is a state-wide average across Odisha's 30 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). The fertile coastal delta and the drier KBK plateau diverge meaningfully from this average — use the district climatology tool linked below for any single district's own figures.
| Season | Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | Mean Max / Min (°C) | Typical Hottest / Coldest (°C) | Sky (Sunny·Partly·Overcast days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Jan–Feb | 27.9 | 5.5 | 29.1 / 15.2 | 32.4 / 12.4 | 18.2·40.8·0.0 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 133.9 | 23.7 | 36.1 / 23.5 | 38.1 / 18.6 | 10.4·77.9·3.7 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 1126.4 | 96.2 | 31.8 / 24.6 | 37.5 / 23.6 | 0.0·65.7·56.3 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 160.4 | 17.4 | 29.6 / 17.8 | 32.1 / 12.4 | 30.5·60.9·0.6 |
State figures are a simple average across 30 member districts (IMD Pune 1991–2020 normal; day-count and sky figures from real 1951–2025 daily archives — see District Climatology tool for any single district's own numbers, which can differ substantially from this state average).
Computed directly from the real IMD 1951–2025 daily gridded archive — not a forecast, and not the same as a single-station record. IMD's gridded temperature is 1°×1° (~111 km/cell) and rainfall is 0.25°×0.25° (~25 km/cell); both are spatial analyses of many station observations; a famous single-station record (e.g. a specific town's all-time hottest day) will typically read higher than the grid-cell value shown here, since one station reading isn't smoothed over a ~25–111 km box. "Place" is the nearest district to the grid cell where the extreme occurred, not necessarily the exact spot.
Pre-monsoon (Apr-May) & post-monsoon (Oct-Nov). Odisha's coast is one of the most cyclone-exposed in the world; since the 1999 super cyclone, the state has developed a disaster-management model — including large-scale pre-emptive evacuations — credited with dramatically reducing casualties in later major storms such as Phailin (2013) and Fani (2019).
Monsoon (Jun-Sep). The Mahanadi delta is prone to significant flooding during heavy monsoon rainfall or cyclone-driven downpours.
Structural, KBK region. The Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput plateau has long been one of India's most persistently drought- and poverty-affected regions.
Pre-monsoon (Mar-May). Western interior Odisha experiences some of eastern India's most severe pre-monsoon heat.
Click a district on the District Climatology tool or search it on the 10-day forecast page for its own normals — the grid below is the full current list (India's Local Government Directory codes, cross-checked against the latest state reorganisation).