Kolkatans breathe sigh of relief as pre-monsoon showers hit city
Kolkata: Pre-monsoon showers hit the city and other South Bengal districts on Sunday afternoon, thereby indicating the advent of monsoon in a few days from now.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore is yet to officially announce as to when monsoon will enter the state. It is, however, expected in a week's time. The weather office says that the city might receive pre-monsoon rain on a regular basis from Sunday onwards, till the Southwest monsoon makes its mark in full swing.
"The city dwellers are expected to experience rain or thundershower in the next couple of days. There may be pre-monsoon showers in South Bengal districts on a daily basis or on alternate days, particularly in the first week of June. It may continue till monsoon finally arrives in the state," a senior official from the Alipore MeT office said.
The pre-monsoon rain will bring down the mercury, thereby giving respite to the people from the scorching summer heat. For the past few weeks, various South Bengal districts have been under extreme heat spell, with the discomfort level shooting up.
People in the Western districts like Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore, Jhargram, Birbhum and West Burdwan experienced heat wave condition, with mercury touching almost 42 degree Celsius in some places.
A light spell of pre-monsoon rain drenched the city on Sunday afternoon, bringing some relief from the heat. Various other districts also received rainfall and gusty wind continued to blow across South Bengal in the evening hours of Sunday.
According to the weather office prediction, a low pressure trough has currently been extending from Punjab to Manipur. This system has caused the pre-monsoon showers in Gangetic West Bengal and some other states as well.
The sky may remain cloudy in some parts of South Bengal in the next few days. The weather system may trigger thundershower and lightning in some South Bengal districts, during the evening hours.
As per the MeT officials it will be difficult to predict the exact time when the monsoon will hit the state, however, it can be assumed that monsoon will arrive after June 8.
The arrival of monsoon in Bengal would only be determined once it hits Kerala. It is expected to hit Kerala on June 6. In normal cases, the date of arrival of Monsoon in Kerala is June 1, with a deviation of five days, the officials said.
"Once it hits Kerala, monsoon will cover the entire Northeast region and Sikkim before finally entering Bengal. How fast the monsoon will advance towards the other regions after hitting Kerala coast depends on the prevailing weather system," a weather official said.
Under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Ratan Babu Ghat area received the highest rainfall with 27.94 mm, followed by 23.11 mm in Dhapa, 19.81 mm in Ultadanga and 13.97 mm in Dum Dum in the past 24 hours.
