Low pressure on course, Met sounds heavy rain alert
Times of India | 16 July 2026
Kolkata: A low pressure area has formed over the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday morning, as predicted by the Met office. This system is likely to become well marked and move north-westwards across north Odisha and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal.
Met officials in Bengal said the system will impact south western districts the most while Kolkata and surrounding areas are also expected to be lashed by incessant rain with some heavy spells in between.
The Met officials said that cloud from the outer band of system has already started reaching the city. Accompanied with the monsoon trough, the city got a couple of spells, with Alipore Met office recording over 12 mm of rain by Wednesday afternoon. The intensity and the spread of rain is expected to increase as and when the system gets closer to the land.
While the maximum impact will be in parts of Odisha, districts like East and West Midnapore, Jhargram, Purulia and Bankura was expected to lash by heavy rain on Thursday.
“This system is can intensify a little further to the stage of well-marked low pressure area. Under its influence for Kolkata and its surrounding area, the rain is likely to be light to moderate mostly with some heavy spells. Even as the spells are moderate, due to the long duration of spells, the 24 hour water accumulation is likely to be significant,” said meteorologist Sourish Bandyopadhyay of Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
IMD officials said that the system’s impact will start declining by Friday, with the frequency and intensity of rain going down. This is the second low pressure area to form over the Bay this monsoon. The city had a rain surplus of around 29% in June
“This July Kolkata has already clocked around 193 mm of rain in the first fortnight of the month which is slightly higher than the normal,” added Bandyopadhyay.
While the rainfall in Kolkata and other south Bengal districts starts decreasing by Friday, parts of North Bengal are expected to be lashed by heavy downpour between July 19 and 20.