Temperature rises, Kolkata may get light rain later this week
Times of India | 17 December 2024
KOLKATA: After plunging to 12.5°C on Sunday, the minimum temperature rose to 13.8°C on Monday. The Met office has predicted a further rise in mercury as a low-pressure area over the central Bay of Bengal is injecting moisture into the land.
Along with a rise in temperature, the Met office has also predicted light rain in Kolkata and its surrounding on Friday. The mercury will start dipping only after the showers.
Though Kolkata is still getting dry and cold northerly wind, its pace has started to recede. Moist and hot wind from the sea has already started entering the land in the upper air. Once this wind system comes down to the ground level, the mercury will shoot up.
"Two systems - the easterly wind and a western trough - will start blocking the northerly wind. Due to the moisture brought in by the easterly wind, we expect some cloudiness from Wednesday onwards and trigger light rain in Kolkata and some adjoining districts," said HR Biswas, head (weather section) at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
In addition to Kolkata, places in Howrah, South and North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, East and West Midnapore, Jhargram, and East Burdwan are also expected to get spells of light rain between Friday and Saturday.
As predicted by the Met office, the mercury dipped to 12.5°C on Sunday, which was the lowest temperature for Dec 15 since 2014. Despite the rise on Monday, the 13.8°C was still 2.3 notches below the normal mark.
By Tuesday, it could touch the 15°C mark and gradually shoot up to 17°C by Thursday. "Thereafter, there will be no significant rise in temperature. The mercury will start falling after the rain," added Biswas.
On Monday, Purulia recorded the lowest temperature in Gangetic West Bengal, where the mercury stood at 7.1°C, whereas in the sub-Himalayan region, it was 4°C in Darjeeling.
The Met office has also issued a dense fog alert for West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura and East Burdwan. In Kolkata, the sky could be foggy in the morning hours, which is expected to clear up in the later part of the day untill Wednesday.
But from Thursday onwards, the sky is likely to become gloomy, partly covered by clouds in the build-up to the weekend rain.
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