Status: Not ApprovedHEAD: 24_Kol_SY_weather feb 24Byline: Sumati YengkhomKolkata temperature dips after rain and rises from wednesday onwardsKolkata: A partially cloudy sky and light to moderate showers across the city dragged the maximum temperature down by 3.7 notches below normal on Tuesday. The minimum temperature also dipped slightly. However, Met officials said this mercury dip was only temporary, indicating a gradual rise from Wednesday onwards. There is no chance of further rain, and the sky is expected to be mostly clear on Wednesday.It was the first rainy day in close to 4 months for the city. The Alipore Met office recorded a rain count of 6.3 mm till late evening on Tuesday. The last time the city received rain was on October 30, when the monsoon was retreating. The Alipore Met office recorded 27.8 mm on that day.“The cloud cover and the rain showers pushed the mercury down. The weather, however, will be dry in Kolkata from Wednesday, with no possibility of further rain. The mercury will start shooting up once more, but it is likely to hover around the normal mark in the next 3 to 4 days,” said meteorologist HR Biswas, head of the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata.The day temperature was above normal consistently in the past 6 days, hovering between 30 and 31, but it plunged to 26.8, a dip of 4.4 degrees from the previous day. It is likely to shoot up and reach the 30-degree mark by Wednesday. The minimum temperature also came down below 20 degrees after 2 days. At 19.2 degrees, it was 0.3 degrees below normal.The warm and moist southerly and south-easterly wind from the Bay of Bengal injected moisture into the land in the past few days. Along with a trough line from Gangetic West Bengal to north coastal Andhra, it triggered rain in Kolkata and many other South Bengal districts, including neighbouring Howrah, South 24 Parganas, and North 24 Parganas.Met officials said the wind pattern is now changing, and the city started getting the dry westerly wind system. Even as the mercury starts rising, low humidity will not make the heat unbearable for now.“Moisture is not coming any longer from the Bay of Bengal due to the change in wind pattern. Therefore, even if the mercury starts rising, the low humidity will ensure the weather is pleasant in the next 3 to 4 days,” added the RMC Kolkata head.In the past 1.5 decades, Kolkata always got some amount of rain in February, barring 2023 and 2018. Last year, the city got 47.8 mm in February, with 47.7 mm occurring on February 21 alone. According to IMD data, the rainiest February in the past 1.5 decades was in 2019, when the city logged a total monthly rainfall of 147.2 mm.EndsGfix:Kolkata logged 6.3 mm of rain.The maximum temperature dipped below 30 degrees after 6 days.The minimum temperature dipped below 20 degrees after 2 days.At 26.8 degrees, the maximum temperature was 3.7 notches below normal.At 19.2 degrees, the minimum temperature was 0.3 degrees below normal.Forecast: No more rain, and both day and night temperatures are expected to start rising gradually.February monthly rain count for Kolkata in the past 1 decade:2026 – 6.3 mm so far 2025 – 47.8 mm 2024 – 12.7 mm 2023 – No rain 2022 – 30.8 mm 2021 – 1.5 mm 2020 – 3.5 mm 2019 – 147.2 mm 2018 – No rain 2017 – 0.2 mm 2016 – 94.5 mm MSID:: 128752840 413 |
