Mercury dips below normal to 12.3°C on season’s coldest day in Kolkata
Times of India | 12 January 2025
Kolkata: The city shivered in the winter chill as the minimum temperature plunged below normal to 12.3°C on Saturday, making it the season's coldest day so far. The chill persisted throughout the day.
According to the Met department, the chill-bearing northwesterly winds were in full flow. The maximum temperature has been hovering around 22°C and 23°C for the last three days. However, it could start getting warmer from Sunday as a western disturbance (WD) approaches south Bengal.
"The western disturbance has already triggered clouds and rain in north-west India. Kolkata and south Bengal could experience fog and clouds over the next two to three days, during which the minimum temperature will spiral. It could then climb three degrees until Jan 16 and touch the 17°C-mark," said Regional Meteorological Centre weather scientist, HR Biswas.
However, chances of rain on Sunday and Monday were negligible, despite the possibility of a persistent cloud cover, said the weathermen. The WD, however, could bring rain in north Bengal and the Darjeeling hills. Snow has been predicted in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
The rise in mercury will be gradual, though. On Sunday, the minimum could be 13°C and keep rising a notch each day.
"After Jan 16, there will again be a dip as the WD recedes. That will pave the way for yet another period of low temperatures, and the mercury could again slide to 12°C," added Biswas.
The lowest Jan temperature has been below 12°C for the past 14 years, except in 2021. The lowest Jan temperature since 2012 is 9°C, recorded on Jan 9, 2013. Met officials have not ruled out the possibility of a further dip, but it was unlikely within the next week, they said.
"Winter in Kolkata is marked by alternate periods of chill triggered by the northwesterly and intrusion of WDs that lead to fog and clouds, pulling the mercury up. This winter, it has been no different, and these warm and cold periods could alternate for a few weeks more," Biswas said.
On Dec 15, Kolkata had recorded 12.5°C, which was the lowest until Saturday's dip in mercury.
The temperature, three degrees below normal, was two notches lower than the minimum recorded on the same day in 2023.