12 Kolkata: Dense fog hit operations of at least 10 departing flights in the early morning hours at Kolkata airport on Wednesday. While visibility was around 800 m at 3 am, it dipped sharply to below 50 m around 3.30 am, halting flight operations. The Met office has forecast dense fog conditions in Dum Dum on Thursday as well. But visibility is unlikely to go below 400 m on Thursday, according to the airport Met office.
Kolkata, however, is expected to experience shallow to moderate fog. At 21.8°C, the minimum temperature in the city remained 4.1 notches above the normal mark on Wednesday. The maximum temperature remained at 29.2°C, which was 0.3 notches above normal. Though temperature will not change much on Thursday, the Met department has forecast a dip in mercury levels on Friday and Saturday. "On Friday and Saturday, the minimum temperature can drop to around 18 °C before the mercury begins to rise again from Sunday," said Sourish Bandyopadhyay, weather scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata.
On Wednesday, the visibility at the airport area improved around 6 am, when the visibility was 400 m, and by 6.30 am, it was 600 m. The high-pressure zone over the Bay of Bengal led to the fog on Wednesday, said G K Das of the airport Met office. The warm southerly wind system has been injecting high moisture from the Bay of Bengal, triggering fog formation while pushing up the temperature. Apart from North 24-Parganas, the Met office has also issued a dense fog alert for South 24-Parganas on Thursday.