Kolkata weather: Hot, humid days with intermittent rain spells await city, says Met
Telegraph | 21 July 2025
Friday began with a hot and sunny morning before dark clouds took over the city skyline and triggered a sharp spell of rain in the afternoon.
After the clouds passed, the sky cleared again.
Similar conditions are likely to play out for the next couple of days, said a Met official. "Rain is likely but in between sunny phases. When it does not rain, the conditions will be hot and sweaty, typical of monsoon," he said.
A fresh low-pressure area is likely to take shape over the Bay of Bengal around July 23-24. The intensity and spread of the showers will go up when the system becomes active, the Met official said.
On Friday, between 8.30am and 8.30pm the Met office recorded around 32mm of rain in Alipore. A bulk of it came down between 12.30pm and 3pm.
Before the rain, the sky had turned ominously dark. On major arterial roads like EM Bypass, Ballygunge Circular Road and Diamond Harbour Road, cars moved with their headlights well before 12.30pm
The overhead sun made its presence felt in the morning. At 32.6 degrees, the maximum temperature was normal for mid-July. Thursday was consistently hot and humid, with a maximum of 33.2 degrees. It was the first long spell of sun that the city had seen in almost a week.
The Friday showers slowed traffic, leading to long snarls.
Monsoon has so far been bountiful in south Bengal, mainly because of successive low-pressure areas over the region. Another is brewing, the Met office said.
The extended range forecast issued by the Met office on Thursday — valid for a fortnight starting Friday — has predicted a low-pressure area over north Bay of Bengal around July 23-24. There is a possibility that the system may intensify into a depression, according to the forecast.
"The monsoon trough is active over south Bengal. It is passing over Contai in East Midnapore. The trough is expected to feed rain-bearing clouds into south Bengal. Till July 22, multiple spells of rain are likely in Calcutta. But the weather will be hot and humid when it does not rain," said H.R. Biswas, head of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore.