Rainy spell disrupts winter feel in city, situation to improve today
Kolkata: The city on Friday witnessed light to moderate intermittent showers, while some of the western districts received moderate to heavy rainfall, along with lightning and thundershower.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted that the situation will improve in South Bengal districts from Saturday, whereas the intensity of rainfall in North Bengal will increase in the next 24 hours. According to the prediction of the weather office, Darjeeling and Sikkim will receive moderate snowfall from late Friday night.
Meanwhile, temperature in the city and other South Bengal districts will dip further from Sunday by a few notches, resulting in a cold wave situation. The districts like Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, East Burdwan, Purulia and Bankura have received moderate rainfall on Friday.
The impact of the western disturbance may be over in South Bengal in the next 48 hours, thereby contributing to the dip in mercury. The city's sky remained cloudy throughout the day. The sky will remain partially cloudy on Saturday morning as well, but the situation may improve slightly in the afternoon.
"Various North Bengal districts received a few spells of rainfall on Friday but it will intensify in the next 24 hours. There may be moderate snowfall in Darjeeling and Sikkim from late Friday night. The city's temperature will go down from Sunday, making people feel the winter chill," a weather official said.
The lowest temperature in the city remained at 15.8 degree Celsius, two degrees above normal, while the highest temperature stood at 25.5 degrees. The relative humidity was recorded between 40 and 98 percent.
The temperature has gone up in the past couple of days following an interaction between the western disturbance and easterly wind, while a huge incursion of moisture and vapour from the Bay of Bengal has led to the formation of clouds.
The traffic movement in various stretches of the city remained slow in the afternoon due to rain. The city has received an overall rainfall of 8.3 mm.
The Ruby Bypass area under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) received 15.7 mm from morning till afternoon, while Joka received 9.6 mm. There was 9.3 mm rainfall in Behala 9.3 mm, 8.3 mm in Dhapa, 7.1 mm in Alipore, 6.3 mm in Ultadanga and 6 mm in Ratan Babu ghat.
Meanwhile, the districts of West Burdwan received 14 mm rainfall, with 11.8 mm in Hooghly, 17.8 mm at Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas, 16.5 mm in Bankura, 12.2 mm in South 24-Parganas and 18 mm in Purulia till Friday afternoon.
In the Hills, there was steady rain throughout the day with the mercury dipping further. It also snowed in the higher reaches, including Gairibans and Sandakphu.
