Kolkata: The city witnessed a sharp north-south divide in downpour on a rainy Monday. While north and central Kolkata were drenched by frequent, sharp spells of rain that left roads waterlogged for several hours in the morning, most parts of south Kolkata received sporadic drizzles. The difference in rain count was a result of ‘localized rain', which often happens in monsoon, said the Met office. The Alipore Met office recorded 28.8 mm of rain on Monday.
A low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Bengal and Bangladesh coasts triggered the showers, which may continue on Tuesday. The system is being supplemented by the monsoon trough that now passes through Gangetic Bengal.
Monday's rain pushed Kolkata's June rain count to 241.5 mm, which is 15% lower than normal. It is, however, significantly higher than the June 2024 rain count, which had a 49% deficit. "This month's count will be taken to be normal since a deficit or excess of up to 19% comes within the normal range. As the low-pressure moves north and northwestward from the sea, coastal districts may receive consistent rain. Kolkata will continue to receive showers, though they could be less intense on Tuesday," said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) weather scientist Sourish Bandopadhyay.
South Bengal, however, has received more than its normal share of June rain. It received 298.2 mm of rain, which is 20% more than the normal count. "There have been successive cyclonic circulations that triggered intermittent but consistent rain since monsoon arrived in south Bengal and Kolkata on June 17," said Bandopadhyay.
Several parts of north and central Kolkata witnessed sharp showers between 6 am and 8 am. The downpour led to waterlogging on several roads, including Chittaranjan Avenue, Bidhan Sarani, MG Road, BB Ganguly Street, Beliaghata Main Road, Maniktala, and Chingrighata, among other areas. However, south Kolkata received drizzles. Except for Ballygunge and Behala flying club drainage pumping stations, which recorded 8 mm and 5 mm of rainfall respectively, all other drainage pumping stations, including Mominpore, Chetla, Jodhpur Park, Kalighat, and Joka, recorded zero rainfall.
An RMC bulletin on Monday said: "The low-pressure area over Northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts now lay over coastal Gangetic West Bengal and neighbourhood at 0830 hrs IST of today, 30 June 2025. The associated cyclonic circulation now extends up to 5.8 km above mean sea level. It is likely to move slowly west-northwestwards across North Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, and Jharkhand during the next 2 days.
"The monsoon trough at mean sea level passes through Sri Ganganagar, Delhi, Fatehgarh, Sidhi, Jamshedpur, and the centre of the low-pressure area over coastal Gangetic West Bengal and neighbourhood, and thence southeastwards to northeast Bay of Bengal, according to the bulletin. An east-west trough runs from southwest Uttar Pradesh to the cyclonic circulation associated with the low-pressure area over coastal Gangetic West Bengal and neighbourhood across southeast UP, Jharkhand, and Gangetic West Bengal between 0.9 to 3.1 km above mean sea level. Under their influence, light to moderate rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely in some districts of West Bengal.