Scattered rain in S Bengal districts

Kolkata: Amidst sweltering heat and high discomfort level, various South Bengal districts received scattered rainfall on Friday afternoon but it failed to bring any respite from the sultry weather. The rain, however, did not last for long.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore said there will be no respite from hot and humid conditions for the city dwellers in the next couple of days. There may be isolated and sporadic thundershowers in some pockets of South Bengal in the next 24 hours. The city sky and many other South Bengal districts mostly remained clear from the morning but in the afternoon light showers were experienced in several places.

The lowest temperature in Kolkata was registered at 28.5 degree Celsius while the highest temperature remained at 35.6 degree Celsius.

Though there is no heavy rainfall prediction in South Bengal, the MeT office predicted that spells of heavy rainfall may continue in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar in the next 24 hours as well. As a monsoon trough situated on the Himalayan foothills, there may be some more rainfall in several pockets of North Bengal.

The month of August also concluded as a rain deficit month. According to the MeT office, the state received around 293 mm rainfall in August, which is 56 mm behind normal. Among the rainy season consisting of four months, around 324 mm less rainfall was reported in the first three months.

Kolkata on an average receives around 310 mm rainfall in September. It is yet to be seen how much rainfall it receives by the end of September. South Bengal registered a rain deficit of around 47 per cent till middle of August but in case of North Bengal, the figure stood at 4 per cent. North Bengal districts on a number of occasions received heavy showers for a prolonged time. Rain deficit in Kolkata stood at 59 per cent at the end of June this year.