Kolkata: It continued to be muggy in the city as the relative humidity in the air remained at a high 85% though the maximum temperature dipped a notch from Monday’s 37.6 ° C to 36.6 °C on Tuesday. The Met office, too, could not forecast any rain respite for the city till Saturday, though it predicted extremely heavy rain in parts of north Bengal, where monsoon arrived on May 31.
The southwest monsoon is still at a sluggish phase and the Met office has not detected any significant system to expedite its move towards south Bengal. “For Kolkata, we can expect thundershower by the weekend. Till then, it will continue to be hot and humid in Kolkata. Heatwave conditions will prevail in parts of S Bengal,” said H R Biswas, head of the weather section, Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
Purulia recorded the highest maximum temperature of 44.3°C on Tuesday, while Asansol, Panagrah, Bankura, Midnapore and Sriniketan, too, recorded maximum temperature beyond 40°C.
A Met office bulletin mentioned westerly winds were dominant over south Bengal and strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal.
“Heat wave and hot and humid conditions are likely to prevail over south Bengal. Rain/thunderstorms are likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of south Bengal. Heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places likely to continue over the north Bengal,” said the bulletin.