Written by Anisha Ghosh

The IMD has issued an orange alert for multiple districts in West Bengal, forecasting thunderstorms with gusty wind speed reaching 30-40 kmph and heavy to very heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday.

The districts under the orange alert are Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, and Nadia.

In the northern part of Bengal, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Alipurduar and Coochbehar may experience intense rainfall per the yellow alerts issued by the IMD.

Light to moderate rain may persist in the districts of South Bengal and North Bengal for the rest of this week.

In Kolkata on Friday, the IMD said to “expect thunderstorms with lightning, gusty winds at 30-40 kmph, and light to moderate rain… with a maximum temperature reaching 31.2 degrees Celsius and  minimum temperature of 27.2 degrees Celsius, with the maximum humidity reaching 95 percent.”

The IMD said that there might be a possibility of lightning strikes in the state, advising people tp avoid contact with trees and water bodies.

(Anisha Ghosh is an intern with The Indian Express)