Light rain likely in city, 'Phethai' to cause downpour in districts

Kolkata: The city may receive light rainfall in the next 48 hours while some other South Bengal districts have been predicted to witness heavy rainfall on Monday due to impact of the cyclonic storm 'Phethai'.

The cyclonic situation has been caused after the low pressure trough formed over Bay-of-Bengal intensified. The fishermen have been asked not to venture into west, central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal and along the coast of Andhra Pradesh, North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts.

The cyclone will not have any major impact on the state, as it would enter Andhra Pradesh on Monday. The Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore predicted that districts like East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Jhargram, Purulia and Hooghly may receive heavy rainfall on Monday, while other South Bengal districts like North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Kolkata may witness light rainfall. Some parts of the city and its suburbs received a little drizzle on Sunday. The sky remained cloudy since the morning.

Due to formation of the low pressure trough over Bay-of-Bengal, a huge amount of water vapour has entered the South Bengal districts, taking the mercury up by a few notches in the past couple of days.

The weather office has predicted that the temperature will go down again from Wednesday. The temperature in the city started going up for the past few days after the western disturbances interrupted the flow of the northwesterly wind that brings the winter chill into the South Bengal districts.

Temperature in the city had dropped a week ago as the northwesterly wind started bringing the chill in South Bengal, but went up after the normal flow of northwesterly wind was hampered.

A senior official of the Alipore Met office said that there is a prediction of rainfall in some of the South Bengal districts on Monday and Tuesday.

The temperature during the day will hover around 21-22 degree Celsius. There may a slight dip in the temperature during night. The city may witness chill during the later half of the week.

An alert has been issued to fishermen, asking them not to go out to the sea due to inclement weather.