'Five North Bengal dists to get heavy rains in next 48 hours'
Kolkata: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore has predicted heavy showers in five North Bengal districts in the next 48 hours while South Bengal districts may receive first monsoon rains of the season on Thursday.
A senior weather official said that the districts like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Alipurduar and Coochbehar will receive heavy rainfall in the next two days while there may be scattered rainfall in all the north Bengal districts for next five days. The city and other South Bengal districts may witness much awaited relief from hot and humid conditions as Monsoon rains will hit on Thursday.
As per prediction, the city and South Bengal districts are expected to receive monsoon rainfall after June 16. Earlier the weather office said that the city and various other South Bengal districts may receive heavy rainfall from June 14-16. It may be mentioned here that various North Bengal districts have been receiving rainfall for the past many days. The South-west monsoon entered north Bengal and also north-eastern parts of the country on June 3 this year, ahead of its scheduled arrival.
Scattered rainfall accompanied by strong winds hit Kolkata and several South last Friday but they failed to give relief from the heat. People in several parts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, East Midnapore witnessed a strong breeze and received rainfall. The south-west monsoon already entered north Bengal and also north-eastern parts of the country on June 3 and therefore received a heavy rainfall. South Bengal districts continue to witness hot and humid weather.
The monsoon entered north Bengal early. This is only the fourth occasion since 2010 when the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala took place before time (June 1). Monsoon arrived earlier than usual in 2010 (May 31), 2017 (May 30) and 2018 (May 29). The earliest onset over Kerala since 2005 was recorded in the year 2006, when the monsoon had arrived on May 26.
