At 13.7°C, city wakes up to coldest day so far this season
Times of India | 27 December 2025
Kolkata: The minimum temperature in Kolkata dropped to 13.7 degrees Celsius on Thursday, making it the coldest day so far this season and the second coldest Christmas in a decade. Kolkata is likely to wake up to a colder Boxing Day on Friday with the Met office predicting a further dip in mercury.
This was the first time that the mercury went into the 13-degree bracket so far this season; it touched the 14-degree mark on four days this month, with 14.4°C on Dec 21 being the lowest before Thursday. Making the day colder was the maximum temperature also dropping to 21.2°C from the previous day's 23.7°C, leaving a 7.5 °C difference between maximum and minimum. While Salt Lake remained similar at 13.5°C, Dum Dum recorded a colder 13°C. The neighbouring Howrah registered 12.4°C as the minimum temperature. During the day, the lowest temperature in South Bengal was 8.5°C, recorded in Sriniketan, while Darjeeling shivered at 3°C.
The last time the Christmas temperature in the city had dropped lower than this year's was in 2018, when the mercury had touched 12.9°C. Last Christmas, it was 18 degrees, 3.5 notches above the normal mark and close to five degrees higher than that of Thursday, while in 2023, it was 16.9 degrees. In 2022, it was 17.2°C.
"We can expect the minimum temperature to come down to nearly 12°C by Friday. It may rise slightly from Saturday but should hover around the 13-degrees mark for the next four to five days. Hence, the chill is very much here to stay," said weather scientist Sourish Bandyopadhyay of Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
A Met official attributed the uninterrupted flow of the dry north-westerly as well as the northerly wind systems to the temperature drop. The wind system, which brought in the chill from the northern region, had been gaining momentum for the past few days, he said. With no major weather systems, like western disturbance or a low-pressure area affecting this region, the cold feeling had persisted since the beginning of Dec.
The Met office said currently, there was no weather system that would interfere with the steady winter flow. "Along with the minimum temperature, the maximum temperature too is expected to remain below the normal mark for now. The wind system is favourable at present, with a strong north-westerly and westerly wind breezing in. We see no weather system to block this wind system for now," added Bandyopadhyay.