Kolkata braces for coldest December in decades

Although the winter has finally arrived in Kolkata, the temperature will be hovering around 14.5 – 15 degree Celsius. The chill can be felt in air and it will persist till the end of December before further dip down in temperature.

“We generally do not declare the exact time of arrival of winter. We only declare winter month. On Saturday, it was 14.6 degree Celsius temperature in Kolkata which is less than normal,” said Ganesh Chandra Das, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Kolkata.

“But the temperature will be persistent this time. It will be around 14.5 – 15 degree Celsius till the end of this month,” Das added.

RMC Kolkata recorded the coldest day of the season on Saturday. The mercury dropped to 14.6 degree Celsius. The icy north-westerly wind blowing into the city from the Himalayas further lowered the temperature.

The winter chill in the air remained throughout the day. The highest temperature in the city was 25.6 degree Celsius, one degree below normal.

However, the city woke up to a chilly weekend morning on Sunday, which recorded 14.9 degree Celsius, which is a notch below Friday’s minimum temperature of 15.6 degree.

It will be the coolest December in a decade and the temperature could dip further if the winds keep blowing in, said the MeT office. The mercury could slightly rise on December 12, though, when cyclone Vardah is slated to hit the Andhra coast.

“We saw that Vardah is going towards Chennai. So, there is less possibility to sudden rise in temperature,” Das further added.

Earlier, the lowest temperature in the city so far was 15.6 degree Celsius which was recorded on Friday. It was also a sharp drop from 17.2 degrees recorded on Thursday. With winter finally setting in Kolkata, people were seen wrapped in winter garments. A large number of people also paid a visit to the amusement parks in the city to enjoy the cool weather.

On Saturday, Vardah stood 750 km East-South-east of Nellore. It was moving in a North-west direction at a speed of merely 23 km per hour.”There is a possibility that it may lose steam and could hit the coast as a depression. But it’s still too early. As of now, it seems headed for Chennai coast,” said Das.