Kolkata weather: Showers pull temp down to 28.4°C, weathermen spy more spells today
Times of India | 13 July 2024
12 KOLKATA: Overnight rain in Kolkata brought the mercury down by around seven notches on Friday. The maximum temperature of 35.3°C on Thursday, which was 2.5 notches above normal, dipped to 28.4°C on Friday, 4.4 notches below normal. The Met office has predicted more rain on Saturday.
The Met office said two weather systems — a trough from Assam to Odisha and a cyclonic circulation over east Bihar adjoining Bengal — had triggered the moderate rain spell.“We expect light to moderate showers in Kolkata on Saturday, too. After that, there will be reduced rainfall activity from Sunday to Monday before it starts picking up again,” said H R Biswas, head of the weather section at RMC Kolkata.
Alipore recorded around 50 mm of rain, mostly between 3 am and 6 am on Friday while areas like Ballygunge recorded 99 mm of rain in the three hours. The showers led to waterlogging in pockets like Lake Gardens, Golf Garden, Jodhpur Park, Dhakuria and Ballygunge. Low-lying and waterlogging-prone pockets in north Kolkata, like Muktarambabu Street, Thanthania, Amherst Street, Sukeas Street and some parts of Beliaghata, Kankurgachhi and Ultadanga were waterlogged as well.
Officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) sewerage and drainage department asked executive engineers at drainage pumping stations to operate all heavy-duty pumps, which led to rainwater receding from major pockets.
Climatologically, July is considered the rainiest monsoon month when Kolkata usually gets 387.4 mm of rain. Till Friday, the city has got 118.9 mm of rain, close to 31% of the monthly count. But Kolkata continues to incur around a 47% seasonal deficit due to the shortage gap carried forward from June. “July and Aug are the primary monsoon months. We expect normal rain count in July. By the end of the month, the shortfall should become narrower,” Biswas said.
The system required for sustained rain includes a monsoon trough and its location, a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, as well as an active monsoon flow. Met officials said the monsoon trough will come closer and revive sustained rain activity by the middle of next week. In preparation, KMC is taking extra measures in added areas, like Behala, Garden Reach and some localities off Bypass by engaging portable pumps to flush out storm water from areas without a proper drainage network.