‘Many dists in south Bengal to be free from heatwave impact after Sat’

Kolkata: In a major relief to the people of South Bengal, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore said that many of the districts in the south will be free from the impact of heatwave after Saturday. Almost all the south Bengal districts will receive thunderstorms from Monday. There may be scattered rainfall on Sunday as well.

After a sweltering heat span in the city over ten days, Kolkata started seeing a dip in the maximum temperature. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast light rain in South Bengal districts from Sunday and said that the maximum temperature is likely to fall by 2-3 degree Celsius in the next five days in the state.

Light rain with thunder occurred in the southern districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, East Midnapore and West Midnapore on Thursday. A strong breeze measuring 50-60 kmph will be sweeping through South Bengal districts as a result fishermen have been asked not to venture to the sea on May 6 and 7. There is a possibility of light rainfall in the coastal districts in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, six districts, including West Midnapore, Jhargram, Bankura, East and West Burdwan and Birbhum may continue to remain on red alert and are likely to experience heatwave conditions till Tuesday, said the Met department. The MeT office on Thursday had predicted that mercury would start sliding down in the next 48 hours. Several districts in the western parts of Bengal have been consistently registering temperatures over 45 degree Celsius for the past many days. The MeT office prediction said severe heatwave is likely to continue in some western districts. 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 were being caused by dry westerly winds and strong solar insolation, the MeT office said. The Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha are all reeling under the extreme heatwave conditions, according to reports. Kolkata on Friday registered the highest temperature at around 40 degree Celsius, Salt Lake 40, Dum Dum 40, Diamond Harbour 39, Midnapore 42, Purulia 41, Asansol 41, Burdwan 41, Howrah 40, Murshidabad 40.