Sun night temp stays above 30°C, high humidity makes Kolkata sweat on Mon
Times of India | 24 September 2024
Kolkata: The city and its neighbouring districts are reeling under high humidity and heat that is unusual during this time of the year. While the Met office blamed a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, which is injecting moisture into the land, for the discomfort, it predicted showers between Tuesday and Thursday that are likely to bring relief from this intense heat.The city received brief spells of rain late on Monday as well.
Sunday night was hottest this month when the minimum temperature touched 30.6°C, which was above 4.6°C above normal. The high moisture content also pushed the maximum to 34.8°C, also the highest day-time temperature this month. It dipped slightly to 33.9°C on Monday. With the possibility of rain from Tuesday, the Met office expects the mercury to gradually climb down from here on.
“In the absence of rain for about a week, the mercury was gradually climbing up. Most importantly, high humidity has been pushing up the discomfort level. But by Tuesday, we can expect the humidity level to start receding,” said HR Biswas, head of the weather section at the RMC, Kolkata.
Currently, the Met office is keeping a close watch on the cyclonic circulation over the central Bay of Bengal. The system is expected to intensify into a low-pressure area by the first half of Tuesday. The Met is yet to predict which direction the system will move. “We will be able to predict its trajectory only after the low pressure forms. But its impact will be both in south and north Bengal in terms of rain. Kolkata will get light to moderate rain but we expect some heavy spells in some districts,” said Biswas.
The impact on Kolkata is expected to be mostly on Wednesday and Thursday. This predicted spell will be adding to the city’s rain kitty. According to the Met office, till the 23rd, the city should get 222.8 mm rain. The city has already got 193.5 mm. The 13% deficiency is counted as normal in Met parlance. The seasonal count till Sept 23 should be 1,257.1 mm whereas the actual count so far is 1,131.5 mm.