Kolkata: Cyclone Remal moved further inland into Bangladesh by Monday afternoon, after bringing 189.6 mm rainfall in Kolkata in a 24-hour period, which in turn, pulled Monday’s maximum temperature down to 26.6° C, 11.4 notches from that of Saturday. It cooled down so much that the minimum temperature was only 1.6°C below maximum.
The cyclone has started weakening and may have little impact on Tuesday.By Monday evening, Remal declined from a severe cyclonic storm to a cyclonic storm, moving northwestwards advancing at 14 kmph, at a distance of 120 km from Mongla, the site of landfall. According to Met officials, the system is likely to continue moving northeastwards, gradually weakening into a deep depression before Tuesday morning. North and South 24 Parganas are likely to continue to experience a wind speed of 40 kmph to 50 kmph, along with heavy rainfall for another day.
What started as a steady drizzle around 9 pm on Sunday intensified into a thunderstorm by 10:30 pm before climaxing into its highest intensity between midnight and 1:30 am on Monday. It was around 12:45 am on Monday that Kolkata saw the highest wind speed in 48 hours, when it gusted up to 74 kmph. Neighbouring Dum Dum saw wind gusting at 91 kmph around the same time. The majority of Monday saw a persistent drizzle, sporadically flaring into a thunderstorm, carried by a sustained wind speed of 40 kmph to 50 kmph. Between 8 am and 2.30 pm, the city was drenched by 43 mm of rainfall, before trickling to a halt by evening.
“Kolkata may receive scattered thundershowers on Tuesday, and smaller localised showers on Wednesday, while the temperature is likely to remain below normal. Before the end of the week, the showers are likely to fizzle out in most districts of south Bengal, including Kolkata,” said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) head of weather H R Biswas.
Having plunged over 8 notches below normal, the maximum temperature is likely to scale up five-six notches on Tuesday, hovering close to 32° C. Tuesday’s minimum is likely to fall marginally to about 24° C.
According to RMC’s Monday evening bulletin, an additional round of widespread damage to infrastructure and power lines are unlikely in Kolkata past Monday evening.