“At present, a low-pressure area has formed in the Southeast Bay of Bengal… The vortex of this low-pressure area extends up to 5.8 km above sea level. But this low-pressure area is far away from our state,” said Somnath Dutta, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.

However, Southerly winds will bring moisture to South Bengal, leading to a slight increase in minimum temperatures for three days starting Sunday (December 8-10). This will delay the arrival of winter.

Dutta said, “Today (December 8), tomorrow (December 9), and for some time the day after (December 10), due to Southwesterly winds, large amounts of water vapour will enter… This will result in an increase in the minimum temperature in the districts of South Bengal.”

North Bengal will see a slight difference, with easterly winds keeping the temperatures from rising significantly.

“Winter will arrive in Bengal with free entry of cold air from Wednesday,” the weather department said.

On Sunday, the maximum temperature is expected to be around 27 degree Celsius and the minimum around 15 degree Celsius. On Monday and Tuesday, partly cloudy skies would result in a slight increase in temperature.

There is expected to be a gradual decrease in temperature after December 11.

A dense fog warning has been issued for North Bengal districts (Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, and Malda) Sunday. Whereas the moderate fog alert has been sounded for several South Bengal districts.

Snow is expected in Darjeeling till Monday, with a light rain forecast for Tuesday.

Light rain is possible in several South Bengal districts like Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, West Medinipur, East and West Burdwan, Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Nadia on Sunday and Monday.