“The temperature is likely to be above normal by 4-7 degree Celsius at many places during the next two days,” said a Met official.
Meanwhile, Panagarh in West Burdwan district recorded the highest maximum temperature in the state on Saturday at 44 degree Celsius. It was followed by Midnapore, Bankura, and Jhargram at 43.5 degree Celsius.
State capital Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 41 degree Celsius along with maximum humidity of 85 per cent.
The districts for which the Red (Danger) alert has been issued are East Midnapore, Jhargram, West Midnapore, Bankura, West Burdwan, and Birbhum. Extreme heatwave-like conditions are expected to prevail in these districts till Monday.
Whereas, the Orange (Prepare) alert has been issued for other South Bengal districts like Howrah, Hooghly, Purulia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, East Burdwan, Murshidabad, Nadia, and Kolkata. Met officials said that the conditions are unlikely to improve before Wednesday next week.
However, several areas in North Bengal like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, and Cooch Behar experienced light to moderate rainfall along with thunderstorms recently. Light rainfall is expected to occur in these areas for a few more days.
The hill town of Darjeeling registered a maximum temperature of 17.6 degree Celsius and a minimum of 13 degree Celsius on Saturday. The Met department has announced that there will be a gradual rise in daytime temperature by 1-3 degree Celsius during the next five days and no large change thereafter in sub-Himalayan West Bengal.
Other North Bengal districts like North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, and Malda, though, are experiencing dry weather conditions with a Yellow (Watch) alert for hot and humid weather.
Given the prevailing weather conditions, the state government has preponed the summer vacation in government-run and aided schools except those in the hilly areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. The vacation will now start on April 22 instead of the usual first or second week of May.