Kolkata: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore held out a ray of hope for the heatwave situation to change from Sunday or Monday with the possibility of rains in the coastal districts on Saturday. Severe heatwave situations will, however, continue in districts like Bankura, Jhargram, West Midnapore, East Burdwan and West Burdwan on Friday.
The MeT office also predicted that mercury will start sliding down in the next 48 hours. Many of the South Bengal districts will receive rainfall between Sunday and Tuesday.
The MeT office said that heatwave conditions are very likely to continue till Sunday over south Bengal, which has been reeling under a scorching sun. Several districts in the Western parts of Bengal have been consistently registering temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius for the past many days. The MeT office prediction said severe heatwave is likely to continue in Bankura, Birbhum, Jhargram, West Midnapore, East Midnapore and West Burdwan. There will not be any large change in maximum temperature during the next two days and thereby it will fall gradually in the subsequent three days in the region.
The severe weather conditions in the southern and western districts of Bengal are being caused by dry westerly winds and strong solar insolation, the MeT office said. Kolkata is also bracing for severe heatwaves. The city and its adjoining areas like Dum Dum, Salt Lake, Barrackpore, Barasat already witnessed the highest temperature of over 42 degrees in the past couple of days. The Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha are all reeling under the extreme heatwave conditions, according
to reports. Thunderstorms may hit districts like Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum, parts of North and South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore on Sunday. Rainfall may intensify on Monday. A mild breeze may also sweep through several parts of South Bengal.
North Bengal districts like Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri will receive thunderstorms accompanied by strong winds measuring around 30-40 kmph in the next 48 hours. Kolkata on Thursday registered the highest temperature at around 40 degree Celsius, Salt Lake 39, Dum Dum 39, Diamond Harbour 39, Midnapore 43, Purulia 43, Asansol 42.