At 14.2°C, Kol min temp rises to normal mark after 5 days
Times of India | 4 January 2026
Kolkata: The minimum temperature in Kolkata on Saturday climbed up by 1 degree to touch the normal mark at 14.2°C after staying sub-normal for five days. The maximum temperature, at 23.4°C, however, stayed 1.7°C below normal as the day remained chilly and windy.
The mercury could travel north for one more day, said the Met Office, but would start dipping again from Monday as the chilly northwesterly winds gained intensity. The minimum could slide gradually to settle at around 13°C by the middle of next week, the Met office predicted.
In the past few days, Kolkata's minimum temperature last touched the normal mark last Sunday, when it recorded 14°C, 0.2°C above normal.
A western disturbance changed the wind pattern temporarily in south Bengal and Kolkata, lessening the chill marginally, said weather scientists. "A mixed wind pattern now prevails in Kolkata that partially blocked the northwesterly flow. We now have winds from the southeast that are fetching moisture from the sea. This helped push the mercury up. We have northwesterly winds, though, and a strong wind current from central India. But the impact of western disturbances will cease by Monday, and the northwesterly flow will be restored. We expect a slow temperature drop between Monday and Wednesday," said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) weather scientist Sourish Bandopadhyay.
On New Year's Eve, the minimum temperature plunged to 11°C, the lowest of the season so far. On Jan 1, the mercury rose marginally to 11.6°C, which was the lowest New Year's Day temperature in 15 years. The minimum climbed to 13.1°C on Friday, which was still below normal by 1.1°C. The maximum also climbed but remained below normal even on Saturday.
Shallow morning fog would keep the chill factor high till the mercury dipped again, said a weather scientist. "This is a brief, comparatively less chilly spell that will end in a day or two. The mercury remained consistently below the normal mark since mid-Dec. While last month was cooler than most Decembers in recent years, the first half of Jan, too, is set to witness below-normal temperature," he said.